Transaction selector employing transaction queue group priorities in multi-port switch

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch. The apparatus includes a group indicator, for each of the queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the queues the queue belongs to. The apparatus also includes a group priority indicator, for each group of the plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of the group, the priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the queues of the group relative to other groups of the plurality of groups. The apparatus includes selection logic, coupled to the group indicators and the priority indicators, configured to select a queue of the queues, for transmitting out of the port a transaction thereof, based on the group indicators and the group priority indicators.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is related to the following Non-Provisional U.S. patent applications:

Ser. No. (Docket No.) Filing Date Title 11/051997 Feb. 4, 2005 BIFURCATED THREAD SCHEDULER IN A (MIPS.0199-00-US) MULTITHREADING MICROPROCESSOR 11/051980 Feb. 4, 2005 LEAKY-BUCKET THREAD SCHEDULER IN (MIPS.0200-00-US) A MULTITHREADING MICROPROCESSOR 11/051979 Feb. 4, 2005 MULTITHREADING MICROPROCESSOR (MIPS.0201-00-US) WITH OPTIMIZED THREAD SCHEDULER FOR INCREASING PIPELINE UTILIZATION EFFICIENCY 11/051998 Feb. 4, 2005 MULTITHREADING PROCESSOR (MIPS.0201-01-US) INCLUDING THREAD SCHEDULER BASED ON INSTRUCTION STALL LIKELIHOOD PREDICTION 11/051978 Feb. 4, 2005 INSTRUCTION/SKID BUFFERS IN A (MIPS.0202-00-US) MULTITHREADING MICROPROCESSOR 11/087064 Mar. 22, 2005 BARREL-INCREMENTER-BASED ROUND- (MIPS.0204-00-US) ROBIN APPARATUS AND INSTRUCTION DISPATCH SCHEDULER EMPLOYING SAME FOR USE IN MULTITHREADING MICROPROCESSOR 11/087070 Mar. 22, 2005 INSTRUCTION DISPATCH SCHEDULER (MIPS.0208-00-US) EMPLOYING ROUND-ROBIN APPARATUS SUPPORTING MULTIPLE THREAD PRIORITIES FOR USE IN MULTITHREADING MICROPROCESSOR 11/086258 Mar. 22, 2005 RETURN DATA SELECTOR EMPLOYING (MIPS.0209-00-US) BARREL-INCREMENTER-BASED ROUND- ROBIN APPARATUS 11/087063 Mar. 22, 2005 FETCH DIRECTOR EMPLOYING BARREL- (MIPS.0210-00-US) INCREMENTER-BASED ROUND-ROBIN APPARATUS FOR USE IN MULTITHREADING MICROPROCESSOR 11/191258 Jul. 27, 2005 MULTITHREADING INSTRUCTION (MIPS.0216-00-US) SCHEDULER EMPLOYING THREAD GROUP PRIORITIES                               concurrently TRANSACTION SELECTOR EMPLOYING (MIPS.0234-00-US) herewith BARREL-INCREMENTER-BASED ROUND- ROBIN APPARATUS SUPPORTING DYNAMIC PRIORITIES IN MULTI-PORT SWITCH                               concurrently TRANSACTION SELECTOR EMPLOYING (MIPS.0234-01-US) herewith ROUND-ROBIN APPARATUS SUPPORTING DYNAMIC PRIORITIES IN MULTI-PORT SWITCH                               concurrently BIFURCATED TRANSACTION SELECTOR (MIPS.0235-00-US) herewith SUPPORTING DYNAMIC PRIORITIES IN MULTI-PORT SWITCH

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to switches, and particularly to the fair and efficient arbitration for switch port bandwidth from multiple competing requestors thereof.

In a multi-port switch, each of the ports of the switch receives transactions from the device coupled to the port. The switch routes the transactions from the source port to a destination port of the switch specified by the transaction so that the destination port can output the transactions to the device coupled to the destination port. The destination port may receive transactions from all the other ports of the switch. If the destination port is receiving requests to output transactions from multiple source ports, the destination port must select the order in which to output the transactions received from the various source ports. Thus, each of the source ports competes for output bandwidth of the destination port, and the destination port must implement a policy for arbitrating, or scheduling, the transmission of the transactions from the various competing source ports out the destination port.

As may be observed from the foregoing, the extent to which a switch helps or hinders the overall performance of a system that incorporates the switch to connect various devices may be highly dependent upon the policy for scheduling the transmission of transactions out of the ports of the switch. Furthermore, the appropriate transaction scheduling policy may be highly dependent upon the particular application in which the switch is used. Still further, it may be desirable to vary the transaction scheduling policy from port to port within the switch depending upon the type of device that is coupled to a given port. In particular, it may be desirable to accommodate varying quality-of-service requirements for the various combinations of paths between the different ports of the switch depending upon the types of devices connected to the ports. That is, it may be desirable for each destination port to guarantee different transaction bandwidth requirements for each of the source ports of the switch, and particularly, the avoidance of transaction bandwidth starvation for any of the source ports. Consequently, it is highly desirable to provide customers with various applications the ability to customize the transaction scheduling policy to meet their particular requirements. A customizable transaction scheduling policy is particularly desirable when attempting to design a switch core that may be part of a system that is customizable to meet the needs of various customer applications. This makes the switch core reusable for various designs, which is highly desirable because it avoids having to redesign an entire switch for each application.

However, making the entire transaction scheduling policy circuitry of the switch customizable is problematic since the transaction scheduling policy circuitry is typically closely tied to the internal operation of the switch, which may have undesirable side effects. For example, it may be difficult for the customer to understand the internal workings of the switch, and therefore difficult for the customer to customize the transaction scheduling policy circuitry. Furthermore, timing critical signal paths of the internal switch would necessarily be exposed to the customer, which might potentially lower the overall clock speed of the switch if the customer's custom logic is too slow. Finally, the customer may introduce bugs into the transaction scheduling policy circuitry potentially seriously impacting the overall operation and functionality of the switch core. Therefore, what is needed is a switch with an architecture that enables its transaction scheduling policy circuitry to be customizable without undesirable side effects, such as those mentioned above.

Furthermore, because there are multiple ports in a switch competing for the limited output bandwidth of a given port, there is a need to fairly arbitrate among the requesting ports for the limited output bandwidth. One fair arbitration scheme used in other contexts is a round-robin arbitration scheme. In a round-robin arbitration scheme, an order of the requesters is maintained and each requestor gets a turn to use the requested resource in the maintained order. The circuitry to implement a round-robin arbitration scheme in which each of the requestors requests the resource each time the resource becomes available is not complex. A conventional round-robin circuit may be implemented as a simple N-bit barrel shifter, wherein N is the number of requestors and one bit corresponds to each of the N requesters. One bit of the barrel shifter is initially true, and the single true bit is rotated around the barrel shifter each time a new requester is selected. One characteristic of such a round-robin circuit is that the complexity is N. In particular, the integrated circuit area and power consumed by the barrel shifter grows linearly with the number of requesters N.

However, the circuitry to implement a round-robin arbitration scheme in which only a variable subset of the requestors may be requesting the resource each time the resource becomes available is more complex. A conventional round-robin circuit accommodating a variable subset of requesting requesters may be implemented by a storage element storing an N-bit vector, denoted L, having one bit set corresponding to the previously selected requester and combinational logic receiving the L vector and outputting a new N-bit selection vector, denoted N, according to the following equation, where E.i indicates whether a corresponding one of the requesters is currently requesting:

N.i =   ; This requestor is enabled, i.e., is requesting.    E.i AND   ; The requestor to the right was selected last time.    (L.i−1 OR   ; A requestor further to the right was selected last   ; time AND the requestors in between are disabled.    (~E.i−1 AND L.i−2) OR    (~E.i−1 AND ~E.i−2 AND L.i−3) OR     ...   ; This requestor was selected last time,   ; but no other requestors are enabled.    (~E.i−1 AND ~E.i−2 AND ~E.i−3 AND .... ~E.i+1 AND L.i))

As may be observed from the equation above, the complexity of the conventional round-robin circuit accommodating a variable subset of disabled requestors has complexity N². Thus, as the number of requesters—such as the number of ports in a switch requesting a port to transmit out transactions—becomes relatively large, the size of the conventional circuit may become burdensome on the switch in terms of size and power consumption, particularly if more than one such circuit is needed in the switch.

Furthermore, in some applications, the requesters may have multiple priority levels; i.e., some requesting ports may have higher priority than others. It is desirable to select requesting ports fairly within each of the priority levels. That is, it is desirable for requesting ports to be chosen in a round-robin manner within each priority level independent of the order the requesting ports are chosen within the other priority levels. Furthermore, the priority levels of the various requesting ports may change dynamically over time. Therefore, what is needed is a transaction scheduler for the ports in a switch that incorporates a simple and fast round-robin apparatus and method that accommodates a variable subset of all requesting ports at a time, and which does so independent of the priority level, among multiple priority levels, at which the requesting ports are requesting transmission.

Still further, a problem that may be introduced by allowing different priorities among the requesting ports is that it may be difficult to accomplish the desired quality-of-service in terms of transaction output bandwidth. In particular, low priority requesting ports may be starved for bandwidth in favor of high priority requesting ports.

Therefore, what is needed is a switch with a customizable transaction scheduling policy architecture that allows prioritization among requestors and yet still accomplishes desired quality-of-service requirements by fairly distributing the transaction transmission bandwidth of a switch port.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch. The apparatus includes a group indicator, for each of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transactions queues the transaction queue belongs to. The apparatus also includes a group priority indicator, for each group of the plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of the group, the priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of the group relative to other groups of the plurality of groups. The apparatus includes selection logic, coupled to the group indicators and the priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out of the port a transaction thereof, based on the group indicators and the group priority indicators.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for selecting one of a plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch. The method includes grouping the plurality of transaction queues into a plurality of groups. The method also includes specifying a transmit priority for each of the plurality of groups. The method also includes selecting for transmitting one of the plurality of transaction queues from one of the plurality of groups having a highest of the transmit priorities that includes at least one of the plurality of transaction queues having a transmittable transaction, in response to the grouping and the specifying the transmit priorities.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a port in a switch for transmitting transactions from a plurality of transaction queues in a prioritized but fair manner. The port includes a port interface, configured to transmit transactions and a transaction selector, coupled for selecting the plurality of transaction queues for transaction transmission. The transaction selector includes a group indicator, for each transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transaction queues the transaction queue belongs to. The transaction selector also includes a group priority indicator, for each group of the plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of the group, the priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of the group relative to other groups of the plurality of groups. The transaction selector includes selection logic, coupled to the group indicators and the priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out the port a transaction thereof, based on the group indicators and the group priority indicators.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a computer program product for use with a computing device, the computer program product including a computer usable storage medium, having computer-readable program code embodied in the medium, for providing an apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch. The computer-readable program code includes first program code for providing a group indicator, for each of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transactions queues the transaction queue belongs to. The computer-readable program code also includes second program code for providing a group priority indicator, for each group of the plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of the group, the priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of the group relative to other groups of the plurality of groups. The computer-readable program code also includes third program code for providing selection logic, coupled to the group indicators and the priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out of the port a transaction thereof, based on the group indicators and the group priority indicators.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for providing an apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch. The method includes providing computer-readable program code describing the switch core. The computer-readable program code includes first program code for providing a group indicator, for each of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transactions queues the transaction queue belongs to. The computer-readable program code also includes second program code for providing a group priority indicator, for each group of the plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of the group, the priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of the group relative to other groups of the plurality of groups. The computer-readable program code also includes third program code for providing selection logic, coupled to the group indicators and the priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out of the port a transaction thereof, based on the group indicators and the group priority indicators. The method also includes transmitting the computer-readable program code as a computer data signal on a network.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a network and a plurality of ports, each coupled to receive transactions from other of the plurality of ports via the network. Each of the ports includes a port interface, configured to transmit the transactions to a device coupled to the port. Each of the ports also includes a plurality of transaction queues, configured to receive the transactions from the network. Each of the ports also includes a transaction selector, coupled to the port interface and to the plurality of transaction queues, configured to select the plurality of transaction queues for transaction transmission. The transaction selector includes a group indicator, for each transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transaction queues the transaction queue belongs to. The transaction selector also includes a group priority indicator, for each group of the plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of the group, the priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of the group relative to other groups of the plurality of groups. The transaction selector also includes selection logic, coupled to the group indicators and the priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out the port a transaction thereof, based on the group indicators and the group priority indicators.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for selecting one of N transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch, the N transaction queues each being in one of G groups, each of the G groups having a priority, the priority being one of P priorities. The apparatus includes G round-robin vectors, corresponding to the G groups, each having N bits corresponding to the N transaction queues, each being a 1-bit left-rotated and subsequently sign-extended version of an N-bit input vector. The input vector has a single bit true corresponding to a last one of the N transaction queues selected for transmitting in a corresponding one of the G groups. The apparatus also includes N G-input muxes, each coupled to receive a corresponding one of the N bits of each of the G round-robin vectors, each configured to select for output one of the G inputs specified by the corresponding transaction queue's group. The apparatus also includes selection logic, coupled to receive a transaction from each of the N transaction queues and to select for transmitting out the port one of the N transactions corresponding to one of the N transaction queues having a transmit value greater than or equal to any of the N transaction queues left thereof in the N-bit input vectors. The transmit value of each of the N transaction queues comprises a least-significant bit equal to the corresponding G-input mux output, a most-significant bit that is true if the corresponding transaction is transmittable, and middle bits comprising the priority of the transaction queue's group.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for selecting one of N transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch, the N transaction queues each being in one of G groups, each of the G groups having a priority, the priority being one of P priorities. The method includes generating G round-robin vectors, corresponding to the G groups, each having N bits corresponding to the N transaction queues, each being a 1-bit left-rotated and subsequently sign-extended version of an N-bit input vector. The input vector has a single bit true corresponding to a last one of the N transaction queues selected for transmitting in a corresponding one of the G groups. The method also includes for each of the N transaction queues, receiving a corresponding one of the N bits of each of the G round-robin vectors, and selecting as a round-robin bit one of the G received corresponding one of the N bits of each of the G round-robin vectors specified by the corresponding transaction queue's group. The method also includes receiving a transaction from each of the N transaction queues, and selecting for transmitting out the port one of the N transactions corresponding to one of the N transaction queues having a transmit value greater than or equal to any of the N transaction queues left thereof in the N-bit input vectors. The transmit value of each of the N transaction queues comprises a least-significant bit equal to the round-robin bit of the transaction queue, a most-significant bit that is true if the corresponding transaction of the transaction queue is transmittable, and middle bits comprising the priority of the transaction queue's group.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a switch port for transmitting transactions from N transaction queues, each of the N transaction queues being in one of G groups, each group having a priority, the priority being one of P priorities, wherein a subset of the N transaction queues may have a transmittable transaction in a selection cycle, the port configured to transmit transactions of the N transaction queues in a round-robin fashion within each of the G groups independent of the other G groups. The port includes G round-robin circuits, each for generating an N-bit round-robin vector for a corresponding one of the G groups. The N-bits correspond to the N transaction queues. Each of the G round-robin circuits includes a first input, for receiving a first corresponding N-bit value specifying which of the N transaction queues was last selected in the group to transmit a transaction. Only one of the N bits corresponding to the last selected transaction queue is true. Each of the G round-robin circuits also includes a second input, for receiving a second corresponding N-bit value, each of the N bits being false if the corresponding transaction queue has a transmittable transaction and is in the group. Each of the G round-robin circuits also includes a barrel incrementer, coupled to receive the first and second inputs, configured to 1-bit left-rotatively increment the second value by the first value to generate a sum. Each of the G round-robin circuits also includes combinational logic, coupled to the barrel incrementer, configured to generate the N-bit round-robin vector specifying which of the N transaction queues is selected next from which to transmit a transaction, the round-robin vector comprising a Boolean AND of the sum and an inverted version of the second value. Only one of the N bits corresponding to the next selected one of the N transaction queues is true. The port also includes N G-input muxes, each coupled to receive a corresponding one of the N bits of each of the G round-robin vectors, each configured to select one of the G inputs specified by the group of the corresponding transaction queue as a round-robin bit for the associated transaction queue. The port also includes selection logic, coupled to the N G-input muxes, configured to select one of the N transaction queues for transmitting a transaction thereof out of the port. The selection logic selects the one of the N transaction queues having the round robin bit set, having a transmittable transaction, and being in a group having the priority a highest of the P priorities having one of the plurality of transaction queues with a transmittable transaction.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for generating a round-robin bit for use in selecting one of N transaction queues for transmitting a transaction out a port of a switch, the N transaction queues each being in one of G groups, each group having a priority, the priority being one of P priorities, wherein a subset of the N transaction queues may have a transmittable transaction in a selection cycle. The method includes generating G N-bit round-robin vectors each for a corresponding one of the G groups, wherein the N-bits correspond to the N transaction queues. Generating each of the G N-bit round-robin vectors includes receiving a first corresponding N-bit value specifying which of the N transaction queues was last selected in the group to transmit a transaction. Only one of the N bits corresponding to the last selected transaction queue is true. Generating each of the G N-bit round-robin vectors also includes receiving a second corresponding N-bit value, each of the N bits being false if the corresponding transaction queue has a transmittable transaction and is in the group. Generating each of the G N-bit round-robin vectors also includes 1-bit left-rotatively incrementing the second value by the first value to generate a sum. Generating each of the G N-bit round-robin vectors also includes generating the N-bit round-robin vector specifying which of the N transaction queues is selected next to transmit a transaction, the round-robin vector comprising a Boolean AND of the sum and an inverted version of the second value. Only one of the N bits corresponding to the next selected one of the N transaction queues is true. The method also includes for each of the N transaction queues, receiving a corresponding one of the N bits of each of the G round-robin vectors, and selecting as the round-robin bit for the corresponding transaction queue one of the G received bits specified by the group of the transaction queue.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a bifurcated selector for transmitting transactions out a port of a switch from a plurality of transaction queues. The selector includes a transaction scheduler, configured to transmit transactions of the plurality of transaction queues out the port. The selector also includes a policy manager, for prescribing a scheduling policy of the plurality of transaction queues. The selector also includes an interface, coupling the policy manager to the transaction scheduler. The interface includes first signals, for the transaction scheduler to receive from the policy manager a group indicator for each of the plurality of transaction queues for indicating one of a plurality of groups to which the transaction queue belongs. The interface also includes second signals, for the transaction scheduler to receive from the policy manager a priority for each of the plurality of groups, wherein the transaction scheduler transmits the transactions out of the port based on the group priorities and the group indicators. The interface also includes third signals, for the policy manager to receive transaction transmission information for each of the plurality of transaction queues. The policy manager updates the group indicators based on the transaction transmission information, wherein the transaction transmission information comprises an indication of which of the plurality of transaction queues a transaction was transmitted from.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for transmitting transactions out a port of a switch from a plurality of transaction queues. The method includes signaling, during a first clock cycle, by a policy manager to a transaction scheduler a group indicator for each of the plurality of transaction queues for indicating one of a plurality of transaction queue groups to which the transaction queue belongs, and a group scheduling priority for each of the plurality of groups. The method also includes transmitting a transaction out the port, during a second clock cycle, by the transaction scheduler from one of the plurality of transaction queues, in response to the signaling the group indicators and the group scheduling priorities. The method also includes signaling, during a third clock cycle subsequent to the first clock cycle, by the transaction scheduler to the policy manager an indication whether the transaction scheduler transmitted a transaction from each of the plurality of transaction queues.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a switch according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a representative port of the switch of FIG. 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the transaction selector within the switch of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention in which the transaction selector is bifurcated.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the transaction scheduler of FIG. 3 and the transaction selection logic of FIG. 2 according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the transaction scheduler of FIG. 4 according to the present invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a block diagram illustrating the transaction scheduler of FIG. 3 including round-robin logic of FIG. 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a round-robin generator of FIG. 6 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 8A through 8D are block diagrams illustrating the barrel-incrementer of FIG. 7 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are block diagrams illustrating examples of operation of the transaction scheduler employing the round-robin generators of FIG. 6 according the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating the transaction scheduler of FIG. 3 including round-robin logic of FIG. 4 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating the round-robin generator of FIG. 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 12A through 12D are block diagrams illustrating examples of operation of the transaction scheduler having round-robin generators of FIG. 10 according the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an example application system for use of the switch of FIG. 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating the policy manager of FIG. 3 and a QSchedule register according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the policy manager of FIG. 14 according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating the transaction selector within the switch of FIG. 1 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention in which the transaction selector 108 is bifurcated.

FIG. 17A is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the transaction scheduler of FIG. 16 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17B is a flowchart illustrating operation of the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 17A according to the present invention.

FIGS. 18A and 18B are a block diagram illustrating the transaction scheduler of FIG. 16 including round-robin logic of FIG. 17 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a round-robin generator of FIG. 18 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating an example of logic for generating the PM_group_priority signals within a policy manager of FIG. 16 according to the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating the transaction scheduler of FIG. 16 including round-robin logic of FIG. 17 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating the round-robin generator of FIG. 21 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of logic for generating the PM_group_priority signals within a policy manager of FIG. 16 according to the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a table illustrating operation of the logic of FIG. 23 in an example transaction queue configuration of the switch of FIG. 1 according to the present invention.

FIGS. 25 through 27 are flowcharts illustrating a method for providing software embodying the apparatus of the present invention and subsequently transmitting the software as a computer data signal over a communication network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram illustrating a switch 100 according to the present invention is shown. The switch 100 includes a plurality of ports 102 each coupled to a network 104. Each port 102 includes a plurality of transaction queues 106 (also referred to herein as a “Q”) that receive transactions 116 from the network 104. Each port 102 also includes a transaction selector 108 coupled to receive transactions from the transaction queues 106. Each port 102 also includes a port interface 114 that receives a transaction 122 from the transaction selector 108. The transaction selector 108 periodically selects a transaction from one of the transaction queues 106 to provide to the port interface 114 according to one of various embodiments as described herein. The port interface 114 transmits the received transaction 122 on a bus 112 to a device coupled by the bus 112 to the port 102. The port interface 114 also receives transactions on the bus 112 from the device coupled to the port 102 and forwards the transactions 118 to the network 104.

The network 104 switches the transactions 118 from the source ports 102 of the switch 100 to the appropriate transaction queue 106 of the appropriate destination port 102 based on the destination of the transaction 118. The network 104 includes connection paths for connecting the port interface 114 of the source ports 102 to the transaction queue 106 of the destination ports 102. A source port 102 denotes a port 102 that transmits a transaction to the network 104, and a destination port 102 denotes a port 102 that receives a transaction from the network 104. Hence, each port 102 may be both a source and a destination port 102. Thus, each transaction queue 106 in a given destination port 102 stores transactions transmitted through the network 104 by only one of the other source ports 102 in the switch 100. That is, each source port 102 for which the network 104 includes a connection path to a destination port 102 has a corresponding transaction queue 106 in the destination port 102 for storing the transactions transmitted by the source port 102 through the network 104. In one embodiment, there is a one-to-one relationship between the transaction queues 106 of a destination port 102 and the source ports 102 of the switch 100. In one embodiment, there may be some source ports 102 of the switch 100 that do not transmit transactions to all of the other ports 102 in the switch 100. In one embodiment, the network 104 may include multiple connection paths between a source port 102 and a destination port 102, in which case the destination port 102 includes multiple transaction queues 106 associated with the multiple connection paths for storing the transactions received from the source port 102. In one embodiment, the network 104 comprises a cross-bar type network. However, other types of networks 104 for switching transactions between the various ports 102 are contemplated.

Each transaction queue 106 in a port 102 has an associated priority for being selected to have its transactions transmitted to the port interface 114. Advantageously, the transaction selector 108 may dynamically vary the priorities of the transaction queues 106 as described herein as needed by a given application in which the switch 100 is employed. In particular, the transaction selector 108 may vary the priorities to avoid a given source port 102 from being starved from having its transactions transmitted to the port interface 114. Furthermore, the transaction selector 108 may vary the priorities to guarantee a specified minimum amount of bandwidth, or quality-of-service, to each of the source ports 102, as described herein.

Advantageously, the transaction selector 108 for each port 102 of the switch 100 may be uniquely tailored to accommodate the particular characteristics of the port 102, such as particular quality-of-service requirements of the port 102. Advantageously, embodiments of the transaction selector 108 are described that not only provide a high degree of control of the arbitration between the various transaction queues 106, but do so in a low latency manner. Furthermore, the transaction selectors 108 are relatively small, and grow in size on the order of N, where N is the number of transaction queues 106 that must be selected from. This is important in applications in which the number of ports 102 on the switch 100 becomes relatively large. For example, the switch 100 may be employed in a system-on-chip (SOC) embodiment that includes a processor core, one or more memories, and multiple application blocks.

A transaction may include a command, or data, or both a command and data. For example, a transaction may include a command to write a specified amount of data from a source port 102 to a destination port 102. In the case of a write command, the transaction may include all or part of the data to be written. If the transaction including the write command does not include all the data to be written, then subsequent transactions from the source port 102 to the destination port 102 may include the remaining data. For another example, a transaction may include a command to read a specified amount of data from the destination port 102 to the source port 102. In the case of a read command, subsequent transactions sent from the port 102 that received the read command to the port that sent the read command will include the requested data.

Using the system 1300 of FIG. 13 as an example, the CPU 1302 may send a transaction to its port 102 that includes a write command to write data to the memory 1304. The write command transaction includes the data to be written. The CPU 1302 port 102 port interface 114 provides the transaction to the network 104, which switches the transaction to a transaction queue 106 in the memory 1304 port 102 associated with the CPU 1302 port 102. Eventually, the transaction selector 108 in the memory 1304 port 102 selects the transaction queue 106 in the memory 1304 port 102 associated with the CPU 1302 port 102 and transmits the transaction via the port interface 114 to the memory 1304, which writes the data to the location in the memory 1304 specified in the transaction. Similarly, the CPU 1302 may send a write transaction to the PCI bus bridge 1306 that includes data, for example, to perform a programmed-I/O or memory-mapped I/O operation to read or write control and status registers of an I/O device coupled to the PCI bus bridge 1306. Still further, the PCI bus bridge 1306 may send a write transaction on behalf of the I/O device to the CPU 1302 to perform a DMA operation, for example.

Using the system 1300 of FIG. 13 again as an example, the CPU 1302 may send a transaction to its port 102 that includes a read command to read data from the memory 1304. The transaction is switched through the network 104 to the transaction queue 106 in the memory 1304 port 102 associated with the CPU 1302. When the memory 1304 receives the transaction, it fetches the data from the location specified in the transaction and then sends a transaction to its port 102 that includes the requested data. The transaction including the read data is switched through the network 104 to the CPU 1302 port 102 and eventually transmitted to the CPU 1302. Similarly, the AGP bus bridge 1308 may send a read transaction to the memory 1304, for example, to read video data from the memory 1304 for provision to a display adapter coupled to the AGP bus bridge 1308.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating a representative port 102 of the switch 100 of FIG. 1 according to the present invention is shown. FIG. 2 illustrates the plurality of transaction queues 106 of FIG. 1 into which the network 104 writes transactions 116. Each transaction queue 106 provides a transaction 206 at the bottom of the transaction queue 106 to transaction selection logic 202 of the transaction selector 108 of FIG. 1 of the port 102. The transaction selection logic 202 selects one of the transactions 206 as selected transaction 204 for provision to the port selector 114 to be transmitted out of the port 102. The transaction selection logic 202 selects the selected transaction 204 in response to a TS_Q_priority signal 208 provided by logic 212 of the transaction selector 108 of FIG. 1 for each transaction queue 106. The logic 212 and operation of the TS_Q_priority signal 208 is described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5. Each of the transaction queues 106 provides an empty signal 218 to the logic 212 to indicate whether the transaction queue 106 is empty so that the transaction selector 108 will not attempt to read another transaction from the transaction queue 106 until the transaction queue 106 is no longer empty. In one embodiment, each transaction queue 106 also provides a full signal to the network 104 to indicate that it is full of transactions.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a block diagram illustrating the transaction selector 108 within the switch 100 of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention in which the transaction selector 108 is bifurcated is shown. The bifurcated transaction selector 108 comprises a transaction scheduler (TS) 602 portion and a policy manager (PM) 604 portion. The transaction scheduler 602 portion is comprised within a switch core 606 of switch 100; whereas, the policy manager 604 portion is comprised outside of the switch core 606. The switch core 606 is the portion of the switch 100 that is not customizable by the customer; whereas, the policy manager 604 is customizable by the customer. In one embodiment, the switch core 606 is a synthesizable core, also referred to as a soft core. The design of a synthesizable core is capable of being reduced to a manufacturable representation quickly and easily using automated tools, commonly referred to as synthesis tools.

The switch core 606 provides an interface 628 to the policy manager 604 comprising a plurality of signals. In one embodiment, the inputs to the transaction scheduler 602 and output signals from the transaction scheduler 602 are registered, to advantageously enable the non-core policy manager 604 logic to interface with the switch core 606 in a manner that alleviates certain timing problems that might be otherwise introduced by a bifurcated scheduler. Furthermore, the interface 628 is easy for the customer to understand, which eases the design of the policy manager 604 scheduling policy.

In Table 1 below, the various signals comprising the policy manager interface 628 according to one embodiment are shown. Table 1 specifies the signal name, the direction of the signal relative to the policy manager 604, and a brief description of each signal. Table 1 describes an embodiment in which the switch 100 includes nine transaction queues 106. Several of the signals described in Table 1 may be used by a device external to the policy manager 604, such as a CPU, to read and write control registers that may be present in the policy manager 604. For example, FIGS. 14 and 15 describe an embodiment in which the policy manager 604 includes a QSchedule Register 902 that may be read and written to accomplish an exemplary transaction transmission, or scheduling, policy by a port 102. However, it should be understood that a policy manager 604 for a given port 102 may or may not comprise control registers, depending upon the transaction scheduling policy required for the particular port 102.

TABLE 1 Signal Name Direction Description PM_gclk Input Switch clock PM_gfclk Input Free running switch clock PM_greset Input Global Reset PM_scanenable Input Global Scan Enable. PM_rd_reg Input Register number for reads PM_rd Input Read strobe PM_rdata Output Read data PM_wr_reg Input Register number for writes PM_wr Input Write strobe PM_wdata Input Write data PM_Q_transaction_transmitted[8:0] Input A transaction was transmitted for the specified transaction queue. PM_Q_priority_0[1:0] Output Priority of transaction queue 0. PM_Q_priority_1[1:0] Output Priority of transaction queue 1. PM_Q_priority_2[1:0] Output Priority of transaction queue 2. PM_Q_priority_3[1:0] Output Priority of transaction queue 3. PM_Q_priority_4[1:0] Output Priority of transaction queue 4. PM_Q_priority_5[1:0] Output Priority of transaction queue 5. PM_Q_priority_6[1:0] Output Priority of transaction queue 6. PM_Q_priority_7[1:0] Output Priority of transaction queue 7. PM_Q_priority_8[1:0] Output Priority of transaction queue 8. PM_Q_block[8:0] Output Prevent the transaction scheduler from transmitting transactions for specified transaction queues.

Some of the particular signals of the policy manager interface 628 specified in Table 1 will now be described in more detail. The policy manager 604 specifies to the transaction scheduler 602 the priority of the respective transaction queue 106 via the PM_Q_priority 652 output. In one embodiment, the PM_Q_priority 652 comprises two bits and the transaction scheduler 602 allows the policy manager 604 to specify one of four different priorities for a transaction queue 106. The policy manager 604 instructs the transaction scheduler 602 to stop transmitting transactions for a transaction queue 106 by generating a true value on the respective PM_Q_block 654 output. Thus, the policy manager 604 may affect how the transaction scheduler 602 transmits transactions for the various transaction queues 106 via the PM_Q_priority 652 and PM_Q_block 654 outputs, as described in more detail below, particularly with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5 below.

The switch core 606 provides the PM_gclk 658 to the policy manager 604, which enables the policy manager 604 to adjust the PM_Q_priority 652 periodically based on the PM_gclk 658, as described below.

The transaction scheduler 602 communicates to the policy manager 604 that it has transmitted a transaction for a transaction queue 106 via a respective PM_Q_transaction_transmitted 644 input. Thus, the switch core 606 provides feedback about the transmission of transactions for the various transaction queues 106 via the PM_Q_transaction_transmitted 644 inputs, as described in more detail below, particularly with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5 below. In one embodiment, the transaction scheduler 602 is capable of removing a transaction from a transaction queue 106 in a single clock cycle. In one embodiment, the port interface 114 may take multiple clock cycles to transmit the transaction to the device coupled to the port 102, depending upon the type of bus interface between the port 102 and the device. In one embodiment, if the transaction is transmitted in a burst as N sets of data over N clock cycles, the transaction scheduler 602 communicates to the policy manager 604 that it has transmitted N transactions for a transaction queue 106 via the respective PM_Q_transaction_transmitted 644 input.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram illustrating in more detail the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 3 and the transaction selection logic 202 of FIG. 2 according to the present invention is shown. The transaction selection logic 202 includes a tree of muxes 724 controlled by comparators 714. In some of the embodiments discussed herein the comparators 714 are greater-than-equal (GTE) comparators. Each mux 724 receives a transaction 206 of FIG. 2 from two different transaction queues 106. Each mux 724 also receives the transaction's 206 associated TS_Q_priority 208 of FIG. 2. The comparator 714 associated with each mux 724 also receives the pair of TS_Q_priority 208 signals for the two transaction queues 106 and controls its associated mux 724 to select the transaction 206 and TS_Q_priority 208 with the highest TS_Q_priority 208 value. The selected transactions 206 and TS_Q_priorities 208 propagate down the tree until the final mux 724 selects the selected transaction 204 of FIG. 2 with the highest TS_Q_priority 208 for provision to the transmission pipeline.

FIG. 4 shows logic 212 of the transaction scheduler 602, namely transmittable transaction logic 708 and round-robin logic 712. In one embodiment, the transmittable transaction logic 708 is replicated within the transaction scheduler 602 for each transaction queue 106 of the port 102 to generate a TS_Q_priority 208 for each transaction queue 106. In contrast, the round-robin logic 712 is instantiated once for each possible PM_Q_priority 652 and generates a round-robin indicator for each PM_Q_priority 652. For example, FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment in which the policy manager 604 may specify one of four possible PM_Q_priorities 652; hence, the round-robin logic 712 is instantiated four times in the transaction scheduler 602 and generates four respective round-robin indicators.

In one embodiment, the round-robin indicator includes one bit per transaction queue 106 of the switch 100. The bit of the round-robin indicator associated with its respective transaction queue 106 is provided as round-robin bit 748 as shown in FIG. 4. If the round-robin bit 748 is true, then it is the transaction queue's 106 turn in the round-robin scheme to be transmitted among the other transaction queues 106 that are currently at the same PM_Q_priority 652.

The transmittable transaction logic 708 receives the PM_Q_block 654 signal from the policy manager 604 of FIG. 3 and the empty signal 218 of FIG. 2 from the transaction queue 106. The transmittable transaction logic 708 generates a transmittable 746 signal in response to its inputs. The transmittable 746 signal is true if the transaction 206 at the bottom of the transaction queue 106 for the transaction queue 106 is transmittable. In one embodiment, a transaction is transmittable if the PM_Q_block 654 and empty 218 signals are false.

The transmittable 746 bit, the PM_Q_priority 652 bits, and the round-robin bit 748 are combined to create the TS_Q_priority 208. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the transmittable 746 bit is the most significant bit, the round-robin bit 748 is the least significant bit, and the PM_Q_priority 652 is the two middle significant bits. As may be observed, because the transmittable bit 746 is the most significant bit of the TS_Q_priority 652, a non-transmittable transaction will be lower priority than all transmittable transactions. Conversely, the round-robin bit 748 is only used to select a transaction queue 106 if more than one transaction queue 106 has a transmittable transaction and has the same highest PM_Q_priority 652.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a flowchart illustrating operation of the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 4 according to the present invention is shown. Flow begins at block 802.

At block 802, the transaction scheduler 602 initializes each round-robin indicator for each PM_Q_priority 652. Flow proceeds to block 804.

At block 804, the transaction scheduler 602 determines, for each transaction queue 106, whether the transaction queue 106 has a transmittable transaction 206. That is, the transmittable transaction logic 708 for each transaction queue 106 generates a value on the transmittable 746 signal. In one embodiment, the transmittable transaction logic 708 generates a true signal on the transmittable 746 signal only if the PM_Q_block 654 and empty 218 signals are false. Flow proceeds to decision block 806.

At decision block 806, the transaction scheduler 602 determines, by examining the transmittable 746 signal for each of the transaction queues 106, whether there are any transaction queues 106 that have a transmittable transaction 206. If not, flow returns to block 804 until at least one transaction queue 106 has a transmittable transaction 206; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 808.

At block 808, the transaction scheduler 602 generates the TS_Q_priority 208 for the transaction 206 of each transaction queue 106 based on the transmittable 746 bit of the transaction queue 106, the PM_Q_priority 652 of the transaction queue 106, and the round-robin bit 748 of the PM_Q_priority 652 of the transaction queue 106. Flow proceeds to block 812.

At block 812, the transaction scheduler 602 transmits the transaction 206 with the highest TS_Q_priority 208. In other words, the transaction scheduler 602 transmits the transaction from the transaction queue 106 that has a transmittable transaction and has the highest PM_Q_priority 652; if multiple transaction queues 106 have a transmittable transaction and have the highest PM_Q_priority 652, the transaction scheduler 602 transmits the transaction from the transaction queue 106 whose turn it is to transmit as indicated by the round-robin bit 748 for the PM_Q_priority 652 of the transaction queues 106. Flow proceeds to block 814.

At block 814, the round-robin logic 712 updates the round-robin indicator for the PM_Q_priority 652 based on which of the transaction queues 106 was selected to have its transaction transmitted. Flow returns to block 804.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a block diagram illustrating the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 3 including round-robin logic 712 of FIG. 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. FIG. 6 comprises FIGS. 6A and 6B.

FIG. 6A illustrates the round-robin logic 712 of FIG. 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The round-robin logic 712 includes four round-robin generators 1606: one for each of the four PM_Q_priority levels 652. Each of the round-robin generators 1606 receives an E vector 1646. The E vector 1646 is an n-bit vector, where n is the number of transaction queues 106 and each of the transaction queues 106 has a corresponding bit in the E vector 1646. A set bit in the E vector 1646 indicates that the corresponding transaction queue 106 is enabled for transaction transmitting. In one embodiment, the E vector 1646 bits are the transmittable bits 746 of FIG. 4.

Each of the round-robin generators 1606 also receives an L vector 1602 that is unique to the corresponding PM_Q_priority 652. That is, there is an L vector 1602 for each of the four PM_Q_priority 652 levels. The L vectors 1602 are also n-bit vectors, where n is the number of transaction queues 106 and each of the transaction queues 106 has a corresponding bit in each of the four L vectors 1602. A set bit in an L vector 1602 indicates that the corresponding transaction queue 106 was the last transaction queue 106 at the corresponding PM_Q_priority 652 actually selected for transaction transmitting by the transaction scheduler 602. Thus, for example, if the number of transaction queues 106 is eight, an L vector 1602 value of 00000100 for PM_Q_priority 652 level 1 indicates transaction queue 2 106 was the last transaction queue 106 transmitted at PM_Q_priority 652 level 1. In one embodiment, the L vector 1602 is generated by the transaction selection logic 202 and stored for provision to the round-robin logic 712. In one embodiment, each L vector 1602 is updated only when the transaction scheduler 602 selects for transmission a transaction from a transaction queue 106 at the corresponding PM_Q_priority 652. Thus, advantageously, the L vector 1602 is maintained for each PM_Q_priority 652 level so that round-robin fairness is accomplished at each PM_Q_priority 652 level independent of the other PM_Q_priority 652 levels.

Each of the round-robin generators 1606 generates an N vector 1604 that is unique to the corresponding PM_Q_priority 652. The N vectors 1604 are also n-bit vectors, where n is the number of transaction queues 106 and each of the transaction queues 106 has a corresponding bit in each of the four N vectors 1604. A set bit in an N vector 1604 indicates that the corresponding transaction queue 106 is the next transaction queue 106 in round-robin order to be selected at the corresponding PM_Q_priority 652.

The round-robin logic 712 includes n four-input muxes 1608: one for each of the n transaction queues 106. Each mux 1608 receives its corresponding bit from each of the four N vectors 1604. That is, the mux 1608 for transaction queue 0 106 receives bit 0 from each of the N vectors 1604; the mux 1608 for transaction queue 1 106 receives bit 1 from each of the N vectors 1604; and so forth, to the mux 1608 for transaction queue 106 n−1 that receives bit n−1 from each of the N vectors 1604. Each mux 1608 also receives as a select control input the PM_Q_priority 652 value for its respective transaction queue 106. Each of the muxes 1608 selects the input specified by the PM_Q_priority 652 value. The output of each of the muxes 1608 is the corresponding round-robin bit 748 of FIG. 4. The round-robin bits 748 are provided to the selection logic 202 of FIG. 6B.

Referring now to FIG. 6B, the round-robin bit 748 of each transaction queue 106 is combined with its corresponding PM_Q_priority 652 bits and transmittable bit 746 to form its corresponding TS_Q_priority 208 of FIG. 4. FIG. 6B also includes the selection logic 202 of FIG. 4. In one embodiment, the comparators 714 of FIG. 4 are greater-than-or-equal (GTE) comparators. That is, the GTE comparators 714 compare the two TS_Q_priority 208 input values and if the top value is greater-than-or-equal to the bottom value, the GTE comparator 714 outputs a control signal to cause its respective mux 724 to select the top value. The selection logic 202 is configured such that the top value always corresponds to a lower enumerated transaction queue 106, i.e., a transaction queue 106 which has a bit in the L vectors 1602, N vectors 1604, and E vector 1646 that is more to the right, i.e., a less significant bit, than the bottom value. Thus, for example, in FIG. 6B, one of the comparators 714 receives the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 0 106 and transaction queue 1 106; if the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 0 106 is greater than or equal to the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 1 106, then the comparator 714 will control its mux 724 to select the transaction 206 and TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 0 106; otherwise (i.e., only if the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 0 106 is less than the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 1 106), the comparator 714 will control its mux 724 to select the transaction 206 and TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 1 106.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a block diagram illustrating a round-robin generator 1606 of FIG. 6 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. Although only one round-robin generator 1606 is shown in FIG. 7, the transaction scheduler 602 comprises one round-robin generator 1606 for each PM_Q_priority 652, as shown in FIG. 6A.

The round-robin generator 1606 includes a first set of inverters 1718 that receive the L vector 1602 of FIG. 6 and generate an n-bit ˜L vector 1792. The round-robin generator 1606 also includes a second set of inverters 1716 that receive the E vector 1646 of FIG. 6 and generate an n-bit ˜E vector 1796.

The round-robin generator 1606 also includes a barrel-incrementer 1712 that receives the L vector 1602, the ˜L vector 1792, and the ˜E vector 1796. The barrel-incrementer 1712 generates an S vector 1704, which is the sum of the L vector 1602 rotated left 1-bit and the Boolean AND of the ˜E vector 1796 and the ˜L vector 1792, according to two embodiments, as described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 8A and 8B. In two other embodiments, the barrel-incrementer 1712 generates an S vector 1704, which is the sum of the L vector 1602 rotated left 1-bit and the ˜E vector 1796, as described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 8C and 8D.

The round-robin generator 1606 also includes a set of AND gates 1714 that perform the Boolean AND of the S vector 1704 and the E vector 1646 to generate the N vector 1604 of FIG. 6.

Referring now to FIG. 8A, a block diagram illustrating the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 7 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. The barrel-incrementer 1712 includes a plurality of full-adders 1802 coupled in series. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8A, the full-adders 1802 are 1-bit full-adders, and the number of 1-bit full-adders 1802 is n, where n is the number of transaction queues 106. However, the barrel-incrementer 1712 may be incremented with fewer full-adders capable of adding larger addends, depending upon the number of transaction queues 106 and speed and power requirements.

In the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8A, each full-adder 1802 receives two addend bits and a carry-in bit and generates a corresponding sum bit of the S vector 1704 and a carry-out bit. Each full-adder 1802 receives as its carry-in the carry-out of the full-adder 1802 rotatively to its right. Thus, the right-most full-adder 1802 receives as its carry-in the carry-out of the left-most full-adder 1802. The first addend input to each of the full-adders 1802 is the Boolean AND of the corresponding ˜E vector 1796 and ˜L vector 1792 bits. The second addend input to each of the full-adders 1802 is the 1-bit left rotated version of the corresponding L vector 1602 bit. In the embodiment of FIG. 8A, the ˜E vector 1796 is Boolean ANDed with the ˜L vector 1792 to guarantee that at least one bit of the first addend to the full adders 1802 is clear. This prevents the single set increment bit of the second addend (the 1-bit left rotated L vector 1602) from infinitely rippling around the ring of full-adders 1802 of the barrel-incrementer 1712. As may be observed from FIG. 8A, the apparatus is aptly referred to as a “barrel-incrementer” because it increments one addend, namely the ˜E vector 1796 (modified to guarantee at least one clear bit), by a single set bit in a left-rotative manner; furthermore, the single increment bit may increment the addend at any position in the addend.

By rotating left 1-bit the single set bit L vector 1602, the single set bit will be in the bit position with respect to the full-adders 1802 corresponding to the next transaction queue 106 1-bit rotatively left of the last transaction queue 106 at the corresponding PM_Q_priority 652 for which the transaction scheduler 602 transmitted a transaction. By using the ˜E vector 1796 as the first addend input, the first addend has a set bit in each transaction queue 106 position that is not enabled and a clear bit in each transaction queue 106 position that is enabled. Consequently, the single set bit of the 1-bit left-rotated L vector 1602 addend will rotatively ripple left from its bit position until it reaches a clear bit position, i.e., a bit position of a transaction queue 106 that is enabled. This is illustrated by the example here, in which only transaction queues 1 and 3 are enabled, and transaction queue 3 106 was the last transmitted transaction queue 106 at the PM_Q_priority 652:

-   -   ˜E=11110101     -   L=00001000     -   L′=00010000 (L left-rotated 1-bit)     -   ˜E & μL=11110101     -   S=00000110 (˜E & ˜L barrel-incremented by L′)

However, if no transaction queues 106 are enabled, the single set bit of the 1-bit left-rotated L vector 1602 addend will ripple left from its bit position until it returns where it started and stop there, as shown here:

-   -   ˜E=11111111     -   L=00001000     -   L′ 00010000 (L left-rotated 1-bit)     -   ˜E & ˜L=11110111     -   S=00001000 (˜E & ˜L barrel-incremented by L′)

Further, if the single set bit of the 1-bit left-rotated L vector 1602 addend is clear in the ˜E vector 1796, such as bit 4 here below, then bit 4 of the S vector 1704 will be set and the rotated L vector 1602 set bit will not ripple any further:

-   -   ˜E=11100011     -   L=00001000     -   L′=00010000 (L left-rotated 1-bit)     -   ˜E & ˜L=11100011     -   S=11110011 (˜E & ˜L barrel-incremented by L′)

Furthermore, the AND gate 1714 of FIG. 7 functions to guarantee that only one bit of the N vector 1604 is set. A bit vector in which only one bit is set is commonly referred to as a 1-hot, or one-hot, vector. For example, in the last example above, even though the S vector 1704 has multiple bits set, the AND gate 1714 generates a resulting N vector 1604 with a single set bit, as here:

-   -   ˜E=11100011     -   L=00001000     -   L′=00010000     -   ˜E & ˜L=11100011     -   S=11110011     -   E=00011100     -   N=00010000

Generally, the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8A may be described by the following equation:

{Cout.i, Sum.i}=A.i+B.i+Cin.i,

where A.i is one of the n bits of the ˜E vector 1796 Boolean ANDed with the corresponding bit of the ˜L vector 1792, B.i is a 1-bit left rotated corresponding one of the n bits of the L vector 1602, Sum.i is a binary sum of (A.i+B.i+Cin.i), Cout.i is the carry out of (A.i+B.i+Cin.i), Cin.i=Cout.i−1, and Cin.0=Cout.n−1.

As may be observed from the foregoing, an advantage of the round-robin generator 1606 of FIG. 7 employing the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8A is that its complexity is n, where n is the number of transaction queues 106, rather than n², as the conventional round-robin circuit. That is, the round-robin generator 1606 built around the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8A scales linearly with the number of transaction queues 106. The same is true of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIGS. 8B-8D below.

Referring now to FIG. 8B, a block diagram illustrating the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 7 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown. The barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8B is an optimized version of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8A in which the full-adders 1802 are replaced with the combination of a half-adder 1812 and an OR gate 1814. The half-adder 1812 receives as its carry-in the output of the OR gate 1814. The OR gate 1814 receives as its two inputs the carry-out of the half-adder 1812 to its right and the corresponding 1-bit left-rotated L vector 1602 bit. Thus, collectively, the half-adder 1812 and OR gate 1814 combination performs the same function as the full-adder 1802 of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8A. The optimization of replacing the full-adder 1802 will a half-adder 1812 and OR gate 1814 is possible due to the fact that it is known that only one of the inputs to the OR gate 1814, if at all, will be true. That is, only one of the L vector 1602 input bit or the carry-out of the half-adder 1812 to the right will be true. An advantage of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8B is that it may be smaller and consume less power than the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8A since it is optimized to take advantage of the fact that only one of the inputs to the OR gate 1814 will be true.

Generally, the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8B may be described by the following equation:

{Cout.i, Sum.i}=A.i+(B.i OR Cin.i),

where A.i is one of the n bits of the ˜E vector 1796 Boolean ANDed with the corresponding bit of the ˜L vector 1792, B.i is a 1-bit left rotated corresponding one of the n bits of the L vector 1602, Sum.i is a binary sum of A.i+(B.i OR Cin.i), Cout.i is the carry out of A.i+(B.i OR Cin.i), Cin.i=Cout.i−1, and Cin.0=Cout.n−1.

Because the embodiments of the barrel-incrementers 1712 of FIGS. 8A and 8B comprise a ring of adders in series, some automated logic synthesis tools may have difficulty synthesizing the circuit. In particular, they may generate a timing loop. To alleviate this problem, the embodiments of FIGS. 8C and 8D break the ring of adders by employing two rows of adders, as will now be described.

Referring now to FIG. 8C, a block diagram illustrating the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 7 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown. The embodiment of FIG. 8C employs a first row of full-adders 1822 and a second row of full-adders 1824 coupled in series, but not in a ring. That is, the carry-out of the left-most full-adder 1824 of the second row is not provided to the carry-in of the right-most full-adder 1822 of the first row. Rather, the first row of full-adders 1822 is coupled in series, and receives the same inputs as the full-adders 1802 of FIG. 8A; however, a binary zero value is provided to the carry-in of the right-most full-adder 1822 of the first row, the carry-out of the left-most full-adder 1822 of the first row is provided as the carry in the of the right-most full-adder 1824 of the second row, and the carry-out of the left-most full-adder 1824 of the second row is discarded. Furthermore, the sum output of the first row full-adders 1822, referred to as intermediate n-bit sum S′ in FIG. 8C, is provided as the first addend input to the second row full-adders 1824. Still further, the second addend input to the second row full-adders 1824 is a binary zero, except for the right-most second row full-adder 1824, which receives the left-most bit of the L vector 1602. The second row of full-adders 1824 generates the S vector 1704. As may be observed, advantageously, the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8C does not include a ring and therefore may be synthesized more successfully by some synthesis software tools than the embodiments of FIGS. 8A and 8B. However, a disadvantage of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8C is that it is larger than the embodiments of FIGS. 8A and 18B, and consumes more power, although its complexity is advantageously still n, rather than n². It is also noted that the embodiments of FIGS. 8C and 8D do not need the ˜L vector 1792 input since there is not a ring of adders for the single increment bit of the second addend (i.e., the L vector 1602) to infinitely ripple around.

Referring now to FIG. 8D, a block diagram illustrating the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 7 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown. The barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8D is an optimized version of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8C in which each of the first row of full-adders 1822 is replaced with the combination of a half-adder 1832 and an OR gate 1834, similar to the embodiment of FIG. 8B; and, each of the second row full-adders 1824 is replaced with a half-adder 1836. Additionally, the second row includes a single OR gate 1838 that receives the left-most bit of the L vector 1602 and the carry-out of the left-most half-adder 1832 of the first row; the OR gate 1838 provides its output to the carry-in of the right-most half-adder 1836 of the second row. Thus, the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8D enjoys the optimization benefits of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8B and the synthesis tool benefits of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 8C.

Referring now to FIG. 9A, a block diagram illustrating an example of operation of the transaction scheduler 602 employing the round-robin generators 1606 of FIG. 6 according the present invention is shown. FIG. 9A includes collectively the round-robin generators 1606 and muxes 1608 of FIG. 6A. In the example, the number of transaction queues 106 (denoted n) is 5, and the transaction queues 106 are denoted 0 through 4. In the example, the number of PM_Q_priority 652 levels is 4, denoted 0 through 3.

In the example of FIG. 9A, all bits of the E vector 1646 are set, i.e., all transaction queues 106 are enabled for transmitting a transaction; all of the transaction queues 106 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3; the L vector 1602 for PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 is 00001, indicating the last transaction queue 106 from which the transaction scheduler 602 transmitted a transaction at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 was transaction queue 0 106. The L vector 1602 for PM_Q_priority 652 levels 2, 1, and 0, are 00100, 10000, and 00001, respectively.

Given the inputs just described, the round-robin generators 1606 generate an N vector 1604 for PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 with a value of 00010, indicating that transaction queue 1 106 is selected as the next transaction queue 106 in round-robin order for transmission at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3. Transaction queue 1 106 is selected since it is the first transaction queue 106 rotatively left of transaction queue 0 106 that is enabled, as indicated by a set bit in the E vector 1646. The round-robin generators 1606 generate an N vector 1604 value of 01000, 00001, and 00010 for PM_Q_priority 652 levels 2, 1, and 0, respectively.

Because each of the transaction queues 106 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3, the corresponding mux 1608 for each transaction queue 106 selects the corresponding bit of the N vector 1604 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 3. Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 0 106 (denoted R[0] in FIG. 9A) is 0; the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 1 106 is 1; the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 2 106 is 0; the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 3 106 is 0; and the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 4 106 is 0. Therefore, the resulting TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queues 106 0 through 4 are: 1110, 1111, 1110, 1110, and 1110, respectively. Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects transaction queue 1 106 for transaction transmission because it has the greatest TS_Q_priority 208. It is noted that although all the transaction queues 106 are enabled and all are at the same PM_Q_priority 652, transaction queue 1 106 is selected because it is the next transaction queue 106 in left-rotative round-robin order from the last selected transaction queue 106 (which was transaction queue 0 106) at the highest enabled PM_Q_priority 652 level.

Referring now to FIG. 9B, a block diagram illustrating a second example of operation of the transaction scheduler 602 employing the round-robin generators 1606 of FIG. 6 according the present invention is shown. FIG. 9B is similar to FIG. 9A; however, the input conditions are different. In the example of FIG. 9B, the E vector 1646 value is 01011, i.e., only transaction queues 0, 1, and 3 are enabled for transmitting a transaction; transaction queues 2 and 4 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3, transaction queues 1 and 3 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 2, and transaction queue 0 106 is at PM_Q_priority 652 level 1; the L vector 1602 for PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 are 01000, 00010, 10000, 00010, indicating the last transaction queue 106 from which the transaction scheduler 602 transmitted a transaction at PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 are 3, 1, 4, and 1, respectively.

Given the inputs just described, the round-robin generators 1606 generate an N vector 1604 for PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 with a value of 00001, 01000, 00001, and 01000, respectively, indicating that transaction queues 0, 3, 0, and 3, respectively, are selected as the next transaction queue 106 in round-robin order for transmission within PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0, respectively. It is noted that transaction queue 4 106 is skipped over in the PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 N vector 1604 since transaction queue 4 106 is not enabled, even though transaction queue 4 106 is the next transaction queue 106 rotatively-left of transaction queue 3 106, which was the last selected transaction queue 106 at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3; similarly, transaction queue 2 106 is skipped over in PM_Q_priority 652 levels 2 and 0 since transaction queue 2 106 is not enabled.

Because transaction queues 2 and 4 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3, the corresponding muxes 1608 select the corresponding bit of the N vector 1604 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 3; because transaction queues 1 and 3 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 2, the corresponding muxes 1608 select the corresponding bit of the N vector 1604 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 2; because transaction queue 0 is at PM_Q_priority 652 level 1, the corresponding mux 1608 selects the corresponding bit of the N vector 1604 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 1. Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queues 0 through 4 are 1, 0, 0, 1, and 0, respectively. Therefore, the resulting TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queues 0 through 4 are: 1011, 1100, 0110, 1101, and 0110, respectively. Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects transaction queue 3 106 for transaction transmission because it has the greatest TS_Q_priority 208. It is noted that although transaction queue 1 106 is also enabled and at the highest PM_Q_priority 652 that is enabled (PM_Q_priority 652 level 2), transaction queue 3 106 is selected because the bit corresponding to transaction queue 3 106 in the N vector 1604 for PM_Q_priority 652 level 2 is set (hence the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 3 106 is set) and the bit corresponding to transaction queue 1 106 is clear (hence the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 1 106 is clear).

Referring now to FIG. 10, a block diagram illustrating the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 3 including round-robin logic 712 of FIG. 4 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown. The transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 10 is similar to the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 6, except that the round-robin generators 2006 of FIG. 10 are different from the round-robin generators 1606 of FIG. 6, as described below with respect to FIGS. 11 and 12. The portion of the transaction scheduler 602 shown in FIG. 6B is similar to a like portion of the alternate embodiment of FIG. 10, and is therefore not duplicated in the Figures.

In one aspect, the round-robin generators 2006 of FIG. 10 are different from the round-robin generators 1606 of FIG. 6 because they do not receive the E vector 1646. In another aspect, the round-robin generators 2006 each generate a corresponding NSE vector 2004, rather than the N vector 1604 generated by the round-robin generators 1606 of FIG. 6. The NSE vectors 2004 are similar to the N vectors 1604, however, the NSE vectors 2004 are sign-extended; thus, the NSE vectors 2004 are not 1-hot. Consequently, by design, two or more transaction queues 106 may have an equal highest TS_Q_priority 208. The greater-than-or-equal comparators 714 of FIG. 6B work in conjunction with the round-robin bits 748 selected from the NSE vectors 2004 to select the desired round-robin transaction queue 106 in the highest enabled PM_Q_priority 652, as described below. For example, assume the NSE vector 2004 at one of the PM_Q_priority 652 levels is 11100. This value indicates that transaction queues 4, 3, and 2 have priority over transaction queues 1 and 0 with respect to round-robin order selection. If, for example, all of the transaction queues 106 are at this PM_Q_priority 652 level, the GTE comparators 714 of the transaction scheduler 602 will search for a transmittable transaction queue 106 in the order 2, 3, 4, 0, 1.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a block diagram illustrating the round-robin generator 2006 of FIG. 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. Although only one round-robin generator 2006 is shown in FIG. 11, the transaction scheduler 602 comprises one round-robin generator 2006 for each PM_Q_priority 652, as shown in FIG. 10. An advantage of the alternate embodiment of the round-robin generator 2006 of FIG. 11 that employs the sign-extended character of the NSE vector 2004 is that the NSE vectors 2004 may be calculated independent of the E vector 1646, i.e., independent of the transaction transmitability of the transaction queues 106, unlike the round-robin generator 1606 embodiment of FIG. 7.

The round-robin generator 2006 includes a mux 2102 that receives as its two inputs the L vector 1602 and the output of a register 2124. The register 2124 receives and stores the output of the mux 2102. The mux 2102 also receives a transaction_transmitted control signal 2158 that is true if a transaction is transmitted from the corresponding PM_Q_priority 652 during the current transmission cycle; otherwise, the transaction_transmitted control signal 2158 is false. In one embodiment, the transaction_transmitted signal 2158 may be false for all PM_Q_priority 652 levels, such as if no transaction queues 106 have a transmittable transaction or if the external device connected to the port 102 is currently unable to receive transactions. The mux 2102 selects the L vector 1602 input if the transaction_transmitted control signal 2158 is true; otherwise, the mux 2102 selects the register 2124 output. Thus, mux 2102 and register 2124 work in combination to retain the old L vector 1602 value until a transaction is transmitted by the transaction scheduler 602 at the corresponding PM_Q_priority 652 level. Thus, advantageously, round-robin order is retained within the PM_Q_priority 652 level independent of the other PM_Q_priority 652 levels.

The round-robin generator 2006 also includes a rotate left 1-bit function 2106 configured to receive and rotate the output of the register 2124 left 1-bit. Hence, the output of the rotate left 1-bit function 2106 is a 1-hot vector pointing to the transaction queue 106 rotatively-left of the last transmitted transaction queue 106 bit. For example, if n is 8, and if the L vector 1602 value is 10000000, then the output of the rotate left 1-bit function 2106 is 00000001.

The round-robin generator 2006 also includes a sign-extender 2108 configured to receive the output of the rotate left 1-bit function 2106 and to sign-extend it to generate the NSE vector 2004 of FIG. 10. For example, if the L vector 1602 value is 00000100, then the output of the sign-extender 2108 is 11111000. In one embodiment, the rotate left 1-bit function 2106 does not include any active logic, but simply comprises signal wires routed appropriately from the register 2124 output to the sign-extender 2108 input to accomplish the 1-bit left rotation.

Referring now to FIG. 12A, a block diagram illustrating a first example of operation of the transaction scheduler 602 having round-robin generators 2006 of FIG. 10 according the present invention is shown. FIG. 12A is similar to FIG. 9A; however, FIG. 12A illustrates collectively the round-robin generators 2006 of FIG. 10, rather than the round-robin generators 1606 of FIG. 6. Additionally, the L vector 1602 input for PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 is 00010, rather than 00001. Finally, the round-robin generators 2006 do not receive the E vector 1646.

Given the inputs of FIG. 12A, the round-robin generators 2006 generate an NSE vector 2004 for PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 with a value of 11100, indicating that transaction queue 2 106 is selected as the next transaction queue 106 in round-robin order for transmission at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3. Transaction queue 2 106 is selected since it is the first transaction queue 106 rotatively left of transaction queue 1 106. The round-robin generators 2006 generate an NSE vector 2004 value of 11000, 11111, and 11110 for PM_Q_priority 652 levels 2, 1, and 0, respectively.

Because each of the transaction queues 106 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3, the corresponding mux 1608 for each transaction queue 106 selects the corresponding bit of the N vector 2004 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 3. Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 0 106 is 0; the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 1 106 is 0; the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 2 106 is 1; the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 3 106 is 1; and the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 4 106 is 1. Therefore, the resulting TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queues 106 0 through 4 are: 1110, 1110, 1111, 1111, and 1111, respectively. Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects transaction queue 2 106 for transaction transmission because it has the greatest or equal TS_Q_priority 208. More specifically, transaction queue 2 106 is the highest transaction queue 106 in the transaction selection logic 202 mux tree (i.e., it has the right-most bit in the NSE vector 2004) that has the greatest or equal TS_Q_priority 208. It is noted that although all transaction queues 106 are enabled and all are at the same PM_Q_priority 652, transaction queue 2 106 is selected because it is the next transaction queue 106 in left-rotative round-robin order from the last selected transaction queue 106 (which was transaction queue 1 106) at the highest enabled PM_Q_priority 652 level.

Referring now to FIG. 12B, a block diagram illustrating a second example of operation of the transaction scheduler 602 employing the round-robin generators 2006 of FIG. 10 according the present invention is shown. FIG. 12B is similar to FIG. 12A; however, the input conditions are different. In the example of FIG. 12B, the E vector 1646 value is 11011, i.e., transaction queue 2 106 is disabled for transmitting a transaction.

Given the inputs just described, the round-robin generators 2006 generate an NSE vector 2004 for PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 with a value of 11100, 11000, 11111, and 11110, respectively, indicating that transaction queues 2, 3, 0, and 1, respectively, are the next transaction queue 106 in round-robin order for transmission within PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0, respectively.

Because all the transaction queues 106 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3, the corresponding muxes 1608 select the corresponding bit of the NSE vector 2004 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 3. Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queues 0 through 4 are 0, 0, 1, 1, and 1, respectively. Therefore, the resulting TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queues 0 through 4 are: 1110, 1110, 0111, 1111, and 1111, respectively. Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects transaction queue 3 106 for transaction transmission because it is the highest transaction queue 106 in the transaction selection logic 202 mux tree that has the greatest or equal TS_Q_priority 208. It is noted that although transaction queue 2 106 is also at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 and has its round-robin bit 748 set and is higher in the transaction selection logic 202 mux tree, it is not selected because it is not enabled.

Referring now to FIG. 12C, a block diagram illustrating a third example of operation of the transaction scheduler 602 employing the round-robin generators 2006 of FIG. 10 according the present invention is shown. FIG. 12C is similar to FIG. 12B; however, the input conditions are different: transaction queues 3 and 4 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 2 instead of level 3.

Given the inputs to FIG. 12C, the round-robin generators 2006 generate an NSE vector 2004 for PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 with a value of 11100, 11000, 11111, and 11110, respectively, indicating that transaction queues 2, 3, 0, and 1, respectively, are the next transaction queue 106 in round-robin order for transmission within PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0, respectively.

Because transaction queues 0, 1, and 2, are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3, the corresponding muxes 1608 select the corresponding bit of the NSE vector 2004 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 3; because transaction queues 3 and 4 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 2, the corresponding muxes 1608 select the corresponding bit of the NSE vector 2004 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 2. Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queues 0 through 4 are 0, 0, 1, 1, and 1, respectively. Therefore, the resulting TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queues 0 through 4 are: 1110, 1110, 0111, 1101, and 1101, respectively. Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects transaction queue 0 106 for transaction transmission because it is the highest transaction queue 106 in the transaction selection logic 202 mux tree that has the greatest or equal TS_Q_priority 208. It is noted that although transaction queue 2 106 is also at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 and has its round-robin bit 748 set and is higher in the transaction selection logic 202 mux tree, it is not selected because it is not enabled. Furthermore, although transaction queues 3 and 4 also have their round-robin bits 748 set and are enabled, they are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 2, which is lower than transaction queue 0 106, which is at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3.

Referring now to FIG. 12D, a block diagram illustrating a fourth example of operation of the transaction scheduler 602 employing the round-robin generators 2006 of FIG. 10 according the present invention is shown. FIG. 12D is similar to FIG. 12C; however, the input conditions are different: the L vector 1602 for PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 is 00001, indicating that transaction queue 0 106 was the last transaction queue 106 transmitted at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3, rather than transaction queue 1 106 as in FIG. 12C.

Given the inputs to FIG. 12D, the round-robin generators 2006 generate an NSE vector 2004 for PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 with a value of 11110, 11000, 11111, and 11110, respectively, indicating that transaction queues 1, 3, 0, and 1, respectively, are the next transaction queue 106 in round-robin order for transmission within PM_Q_priority 652 levels 3 through 0, respectively.

Because transaction queues 0, 1, and 2, are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3, the corresponding mux 1608 for each selects the corresponding bit of the NSE vector 2004 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 3; because transaction queues 3 and 4 are at PM_Q_priority 652 level 2, the corresponding mux 1608 for each selects the corresponding bit of the NSE vector 2004 of PM_Q_priority 652 level 2. Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queues 0 through 4 are 0, 1, 1, 1, and 1, respectively. Therefore, the resulting TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queues 0 through 4 are: 1110, 1111, 0111, 1101, and 1101, respectively. Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects transaction queue 1 106 for transaction transmission because it is the highest transaction queue 106 in the transaction selection logic 202 mux tree that has the greatest or equal TS_Q_priority 208. It is noted that although transaction queue 0 106 is also at PM_Q_priority 652 level 3 and is enabled, its round-robin bit 748 is clear, whereas the round-robin bit 748 for transaction queue 1 106 is set, which causes the transaction selection logic 202 to select transaction queue 1 106 for transmission.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a block diagram of an example application system 1300 for use of the switch 100 of FIG. 1 according to the present invention is shown. The system 1300 of FIG. 13 includes a switch 100 of FIG. 1. The switch 100 of FIG. 13 includes four ports 102, although the present invention is not limited to a particular number of ports 102. Rather, the switch 100, ports 102, and transaction selector 108 embodiments described herein advantageously accommodate a relatively large number of transaction queues 106 requesting access to the transaction transmission bandwidth of a given port 102. A CPU 1302 is coupled to one port 102 of the switch 100; a memory 1304 is coupled to another port 102 of the switch 100; a PCI bus bridge 1306 is coupled to another port 102 of the switch 100; an AGP bus bridge 1308 is coupled to another port 102 of the switch 100. Thus, the system 1300 may comprise a simple personal computer on a chip. The devices which may be coupled to the switch 100 of the present invention are not limited to the devices shown in FIG. 13, but instead may include other building blocks employed in a system, such as a system-on-chip (SOC), including but not limited to, direct memory access controllers (DMACs), ports of other switches, digital signal processors (DSPs), network controllers, universal serial bus (USB) controllers, analog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converters, and the like. Advantageously, for each of the ports 102 of a switch 100 as described herein, the transaction transmission policy of the transaction selector 108 may be customized to fit the need of the particular port 102.

Referring now to FIG. 14, a block diagram illustrating the policy manager 604 of FIG. 3 and a QSchedule register 902 according to the present invention is shown.

The switch 100 includes a QSchedule register 902 for each transaction queue 106. The QSchedule register 902 is software-programmable and provides a means for software to provide a transaction scheduling hint to the policy manager 604. In one embodiment, the QSchedule register 902 is comprised within the policy manager 604 of each port 102 and is accessed via the signals described in Table 1 that enable the reading and writing of control registers. The QSchedule register 902 includes six fields: Q_LEVEL_PARAM1 908, Q_LEVEL_PARAM2 906, Q_LEVEL_PARAM3 904, Q_RATE 912, OV 914, and PRIO 916. In the embodiment of FIG. 14, the Q_LEVEL_PARAM1 908, Q_LEVEL_PARAM2 906, Q_LEVEL_PARAM3 904, and Q_RATE 912 fields comprise four bits, the PRIO 916 field comprises two bits, and the OV 914 field is a single bit.

The policy manager 604 logic shown in FIG. 14 comprises control logic 924; comparators 922 coupled to provide their output to the control logic 924; a Q_LEVEL 918 register coupled to provide its output as an input to the comparators 922; and a three-input mux 926 that is coupled to provide its output as the input to the Q_LEVEL 918 register. The mux 926 receives on its first input the output of the Q_LEVEL 918 register for retaining the correct value. The mux 926 receives on its second input the output of a decrementer 932 whose input is the output of the Q_LEVEL 918 register. The mux 926 receives on its third input the output of an incrementer 934 whose input is the output of an adder 936 that adds the output of the Q_LEVEL 918 register and the output of a multiplier 938 that multiplies the Q_RATE 912 by 2. The Q_RATE 912 is an indication of the desired transmission rate of the transaction queue 106, i.e., the number of transactions to be completed per unit time. In the embodiment of FIG. 14, the Q_RATE 912 indicates the number of transactions of the transaction queue 106 that should be completed every 16 clock cycles. Although the logic just listed is shown only once in FIG. 14, the logic is replicated within the policy manager 604 for each transaction queue 106 to generate the PM_Q block 654 and PM_Q_priority 652 signals and to receive the PM_Q_transaction_transmitted 644 and PM_gclk 658 signals for each transaction queue 106.

The policy manager 604 employs a modified leaky-bucket algorithm to accomplish the high-level transaction scheduling policy of the transaction selector 108. The Q_LEVEL 918 register is analogous to the water level in a bucket. The Q_LEVEL 918 is essentially a measure of the amount of work that needs to be done by the transaction queue 106. In one embodiment, the Q_LEVEL 918 register comprises a 12-bit register initialized to zero. The control logic 924 generates a control signal 928 to control which input the mux 926 selects. Every 32 clock cycles, the mux 926 selects the output of the incrementer 936 for storing in the Q_LEVEL 918 register, which increases the Q_LEVEL 918 by the quantity (Q_RATE*2+1). In one embodiment, the number of clock cycles between updates of the Q_LEVEL 918 based on the Q_RATE 912 is also programmable. On other clock cycles, the mux 926 selects the output of the decrementer 932 to decrement the Q_LEVEL 918 if the PM_Q_transaction_transmitted signal 644 indicates a transaction for the transaction queue 106 has been committed for transmission. Thus, software can affect the virtual water level in the transaction queue's 106 bucket by adjusting the Q_RATE 912 value of the transaction queue's 106 QSchedule register 902. In the embodiment of FIG. 14, the value of the Q_RATE 912 indicates the number of transactions per 16 clock cycles it is desired for the switch 100 to transmit for the transaction queue 106.

As the water level in a leaky bucket increases, so does the water pressure, which causes the water to leak out at a higher rate. Analogously, the Q_LEVEL_PARAM fields 904/906/908 are programmed with monotonically increasing values that define virtual water pressure ranges. The comparators 922 compare the Q_LEVEL 918 with the Q_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908 and provide their result to the control logic 924, which generates the PM_Q_priority 652 based on which of the virtual water pressure ranges the Q_LEVEL 918 falls in. As illustrated by the leaky bucket of FIG. 14, the control logic 924 generates a PM_Q_priority 652 value of 3 (the highest priority) if the most significant nibble of the Q_LEVEL 918 is above the Q_LEVEL_PARAM3 904 value; the control logic 924 generates a PM_Q_priority 652 value of 2 if the most significant nibble of the Q_LEVEL 918 is between the Q_LEVEL_PARAM3 904 value and the Q_LEVEL_PARAM2 906 value; the control logic 924 generates a PM_Q_priority 652 value of 1 if the most significant nibble of the Q_LEVEL 918 is between the Q_LEVEL_PARAM2 906 value and the Q_LEVEL_PARAM1 908 value; and the control logic 924 generates a PM_Q_priority 652 value of 0 (the lowest priority) if the most significant nibble of the Q_LEVEL 918 is below the Q_LEVEL_PARAM1 908 value. Analogously, increasing the PM_Q_priority 652 level increases the pressure on the transaction scheduler 602 to transmit transactions for the transaction queue 106, while decreasing the PM_Q_priority 652 level decreases the pressure on the transaction scheduler 602 to transmit transactions for the transaction queue 106.

As discussed above, in some applications using the switch 100, different transaction queues 106 may require different transaction transmission rates, which is programmable using the Q_RATE 912 field. Furthermore, different transaction queues 106 may require different resolutions, i.e., the period of time over which the transaction transmission rate is measured. That is, some transaction queues 106, although perhaps not requiring a high transmission rate, may not be starved for transaction transmission beyond a minimum time period. That is, the transaction queue 106 requires a particular quality-of-service (QOS). As may be observed from FIG. 14 and the explanation thereof, the Q_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908 may be employed to accomplish a required resolution for each transaction queue 106. By assigning Q_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908 that are relatively close to one another, a higher resolution may be accomplished; whereas, assigning Q_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908 that are relatively far apart, creates a lower resolution. Thus, software may achieve the desired quality-of-service goals via the policy manager 604 by adjusting the Q_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908 for each transaction queue 106 to achieve the needed resolution on the transaction transmission rate.

If the OV bit 914 is set, the control logic 924 ignores the values of the Q_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908, Q_RATE 912, and Q_LEVEL 918, and instead generates a value on the PM_Q_priority 652 signal equal to the value specified in the PRIO field 916. This allows software to bypass the leaky bucket policy and directly control the priority of one or more of the transaction queues 106, if necessary.

In one embodiment, if the Q_LEVEL 918 saturates to its maximum value for a predetermined number of clock cycles, then the switch 100 signals an interrupt to enable software to make transaction queue 106 scheduling adjustments at a higher level, in particular by changing the values in one or more of the QSchedule registers 902. In one embodiment, the interrupt may be masked by software.

It should be understood that although an embodiment is described in which specific numbers of bits are used to specify the PM_Q_priority 652, Q_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908, Q_RATE 912, Q_LEVEL 918, etc., the transaction selector 108 is not limited in any way to the values used in the embodiment; rather, the transaction selector 108 may be configured to use various different number of bits, priorities, levels, rates, etc. as required by the particular application in which the switch 100 is to be used. Furthermore, although a policy manager 604 has been described which employs a modified leaky-bucket transaction queue 106 scheduling policy, it should be understood that the policy manager 604 may be configured to employ any of various transaction queue 106 scheduling policies while still enjoying the benefits of a bifurcated transaction selector 108. For example, in one embodiment, the policy manager 604 employs a simple round-robin transaction queue 106 scheduling policy in which the PM_Q_priority 652 outputs for all the transaction queues 106 are tied to the same value. In another embodiment, the policy manager 604 employs a time-sliced transaction queue 106 scheduling policy in which the PM_Q_priority 652 output is raised to the highest priority for one transaction queue 106 for a number of consecutive clock cycles specified in the QSchedule register 902 of the transaction queue 106, then the PM_Q_priority 652 output is raised to the highest priority for another transaction queue 106 for a, perhaps different, number of consecutive clock cycles specified in the QSchedule register 902 of the transaction queue 106, and so on for each transaction queue 106 in a time-sliced fashion.

As may be observed from the foregoing, bifurcating the transaction selector 108 enables the transaction scheduler 602, which is included in the switch core 606, to be relatively simple, which enables the transaction scheduler 602 to be relatively small in terms of area and power, and places the application-specific complexity of the transaction queue 106 scheduling policy in the policy manager 604, which is outside the switch core 606. This is advantageous since some applications may not require a complex policy manager 604 and can therefore not be burdened with the additional area and power requirements that would be imposed upon all applications if the transaction selector 108 were not bifurcated, as described herein.

Referring now to FIG. 15, a flowchart illustrating operation of the policy manager 604 of FIG. 14 according to the present invention is shown. Although operation is shown for only a single transaction queue 106 in FIG. 15, the operation specified in FIG. 15 occurs within the policy manager 604 for each transaction queue 106. Flow begins at block 1002.

At block 1002, the policy manager 604 initializes the Q_LEVEL 918 to zero. Flow proceeds to block 1004.

At block 1004, the policy manager 604 waits one tick of the PM_gclk 658. Flow proceeds to decision block 1006.

At decision block 1006, the policy manager 604 determines whether 32 PM_gclks 658 have ticked since the last time flow arrived at decision block 1006. If not flow proceeds to decision block 1012; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1008.

At block 1008, the Q_LEVEL 918 is increased by twice the value of Q_RATE 912 plus one. Flow proceeds to decision block 1012.

At decision block 1012, the policy manager 604 determines whether PM_Q transaction_transmitted 644 is true. If not, flow proceeds to decision block 1016; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1014.

At block 1014, the Q_LEVEL 918 is decremented. Flow proceeds to decision block 1016.

At decision block 1016, the policy manager 604 determines whether the OV bit 914 is set. If not, flow proceeds to decision block 1022; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1018.

At block 1018, the policy manager 604 generates a value on PM_Q_priority 652 equal to the value of the PRIO 916 field. Flow returns to block 1004.

At decision block 1022, the policy manager 604 determines whether the Q_LEVEL 918 is greater than the Q_LEVEL_PARAM3 904 value. If not, flow proceeds to decision block 1026; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1024.

At block 1024, the policy manager 604 generates a value of 3 (the highest priority) on PM_Q_priority 652. Flow returns to block 1004.

At decision block 1026, the policy manager 604 determines whether the Q_LEVEL 918 is greater than the Q_LEVEL_PARAM2 906 value. If not, flow proceeds to decision block 1032; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1028.

At block 1028, the policy manager 604 generates a value of 2 on PM_Q_priority 652. Flow returns to block 1004.

At decision block 1032, the policy manager 604 determines whether the Q_LEVEL 918 is greater than the Q_LEVEL_PARAM1 908 value. If not, flow proceeds to block 1036; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1034.

At block 1034, the policy manager 604 generates a value of 1 on PM_Q_priority 652. Flow returns to block 1004.

At block 1036, the policy manager 604 generates a value of 0 (lowest priority) on PM_Q_priority 652. Flow returns to block 1004.

Referring now to FIGS. 16 through 24, an alternate embodiment of the bifurcated transaction selector 108 of FIG. 1 that differs from the bifurcated transaction selector 108 of FIG. 3 is described. With respect to FIG. 3, it is noted that the policy manager 604 may specify the priority level of each transaction queue 106 directly, via the PM_Q_priority 652. With respect to FIGS. 4 and 5, it is noted that the round-robin order is maintained on a per-PM_Q_priority 652 level basis. It has been observed, however, that it is desirable to change the PM_Q_priority 652 level for the various transaction queues 106 relatively frequently, e.g., every clock cycle or every few clock cycles. Otherwise, an undesirable affect may occur, depending upon the composition of transaction queues 106. In particular, if the highest priority transaction queues 106 are kept at highest priority for a relatively long time and continue to have transmittable transactions, then they may completely starve the other lower priority transaction queues 106 from having any transmission bandwidth during the relatively long time.

As mentioned above, changing the PM_Q_priority 652 level for the various transaction queues 106 relatively frequently so that all transaction queues 106 may be highest priority at least some percentage of the time may avoid starvation of transaction queues 106 to accomplish the required quality-of-service. However, an undesirable side effect of changing the PM_Q_priority 652 levels frequently is that the per-PM_Q_priority 652 level round-robin order is not obtained. That is, if the PM_Q priorities 652 of the transaction queues 106 are changed relatively frequently, then the round-robin generators of the embodiments of FIGS. 6 and 10 may not provide fair round-robin vectors.

To solve this problem, the embodiments of FIGS. 16 through 22 provide a mechanism for grouping transaction queues 106 and specifying a priority for each group. Round-robin generators are employed to maintain round-robin order within each group. This enables the group priorities to change frequently, such as each clock cycle, to address the quality-of-service problems discussed above; however, as long as the populations of the transaction queue 106 groups change relatively infrequently, the fair round-robin order will be maintained for each group, as will now be described.

Referring now to FIG. 16, a block diagram illustrating the transaction selector 108 within the switch 100 of FIG. 1 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention in which the transaction selector 108 is bifurcated is shown. The transaction selector 108 of FIG. 16 includes a PM interface 628 similar to that of FIG. 3; however, as may be observed by comparing FIGS. 6 and 16 and by comparing Table 1 above with Table 2 below, the PM_Q_priority 652 outputs of FIG. 3 and Table 1 are replaced with the PM_group priority 2602 and PM_Q_group 2604 outputs in FIG. 16 and Table 2. In the embodiment of FIG. 16, the two-bit PM_Q_group 2604 signal exists for each transaction queue 106 and identifies one of four possible transaction queue 106 groups to which the transaction queue 106 belongs. The groups are denoted 0, 1, 2, and 3 or G0, G1, G2, G3. In the embodiment of FIG. 16, the two-bit PM_group priority 2602 signal exists for each group and indicates one of four possible priority levels for each of the transaction queues 106 in the group. The group priorities are denoted 0, 1, 2, and 3.

TABLE 2 Signal Name Direction Description PM_gclk Input switch clock PM_gfclk Input Free running switch clock PM_greset Input Global Reset PM_scanenable Input Global Scan Enable. PM_rd_reg Input Register number for reads PM_rd Input Read strobe PM_rdata Output Read data PM_wr_reg Input Register number for writes PM_wr Input Write strobe PM_wdata Input Write data PM_Q_transaction_transmitted[8:0] Input A transaction was transmitted for the specified transaction queue. PM_Q_group_0[1:0] Output Group to which transaction queue 0 belongs. PM_Q_group_1[1:0] Output Group to which transaction queue 1 belongs. PM_Q_group_2[1:0] Output Group to which transaction queue 2 belongs. PM_Q_group_3[1:0] Output Group to which transaction queue 3 belongs. PM_Q_group_4[1:0] Output Group to which transaction queue 4 belongs. PM_Q_group_5[1:0] Output Group to which transaction queue 5 belongs. PM_Q_group_6[1:0] Output Group to which transaction queue 6 belongs. PM_Q_group_7[1:0] Output Group to which transaction queue 7 belongs. PM_Q_group_8[1:0] Output Group to which transaction queue 8 belongs. PM_group_priority_0[1:0] Output Priority level of transaction queues in group 0. PM_group_priority_1[1:0] Output Priority level of transaction queues in group 1. PM_group_priority_2[1:0] Output Priority level of transaction queues in group 2. PM_group_priority_3[1:0] Output Priority level of transaction queues in group 3. PM_Q_block[8:0] Output Prevent the transaction scheduler from transmitting transactions for specified transaction queues.

Referring now to FIG. 17A, a block diagram illustrating in more detail the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 16 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. FIG. 17A is similar to FIG. 4; however, FIG. 17A includes a four-input mux 2704 that receives the four PM_group_priority 2602 outputs of FIG. 16 on respective ones of its data inputs. Similarly to the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 4, in the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 17A, transmittable transaction logic 708 and mux 2704 are replicated within the transaction scheduler 602 for each transaction queue 106 to generate a TS_Q_priority 208 for each transaction queue 106. The mux 2704 also receives the PM_Q_group 2604 outputs of FIG. 16 of the associated transaction queue 106 as its select control input. Consequently, the mux 2704 outputs a two-bit Q_priority 2752 for the associated transaction queue 106 which functions similarly to the PM_Q_priority 652 of FIG. 4. That is, the Q_priority 2752 specifies the priority of the associated transaction queue 106; however, as may be observed, the Q_priority 2752, rather than being directly provided by the policy manager 604, is derived by mux 2704 from the policy manager 604 outputs PM_Q_group 2604 and PM_group_priority 2602 as shown. The Q_priority 2752 is combined with the transmittable bit 746 and the round-robin bit 748 to create the TS_Q_priority 208, which is provided to the transaction selection logic 202, similarly to the manner of FIG. 4.

Another difference between the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 17A and FIG. 4 is that a round-robin generator 712, or round-robin logic 712, of FIG. 17A exists for each transaction queue 106 group, rather than for each PM_Q_priority 652 as in FIG. 4. Two embodiments of the round-robin generator 712 of FIG. 17A are described in detail below with respect to FIGS. 18-19 and 21-22, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 17B, a flowchart illustrating operation of the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 17A according to the present invention is shown. Flow begins at block 2703.

At block 2703, the transaction scheduler 602 initializes each round-robin indicator for each transaction queue 106 group. Flow proceeds to block 804.

At block 804, the transaction scheduler 602 determines, for each transaction queue 106, whether the transaction queue 106 has a transmittable transaction 206. That is, the transmittable transaction logic 708 for each transaction queue 106 generates a value on the transmittable 746 signal. In one embodiment, the transmittable transaction logic 708 generates a true signal on the transmittable 746 signal only if the PM_Q block 654 and empty 218 signals are false. Flow proceeds to decision block 806.

At decision block 806, the transaction scheduler 602 determines, by examining the transmittable 746 signal for each of the transaction queues 106, whether there are any transaction queues 106 that have a transmittable transaction 206. If not, flow returns to block 804 until at least one transaction queue 106 has a transmittable transaction 206; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 2708.

At block 2708, the transaction scheduler 602 generates the TS_Q_priority 208 for the transaction 206 of each transaction queue 106 based on the transmittable 746 bit of the transaction queue 106, the Q_priority 2752 of FIG. 17A of the transaction queue 106, and the round-robin bit 748 of the group of the transaction queue 106. As described above with respect to FIG. 17A, the mux 2704 generates the Q_priority 2752 for each transaction queue 106 based on the PM_Q_group 2604 of the transaction queue 106 and the PM_group priority 2602 of FIG. 16 of the transaction queue's 106 group. Flow proceeds to block 812.

At block 812, the transaction scheduler 602 transmits the transaction 206 with the highest TS_Q_priority 208. In other words, the transaction scheduler 602 transmits the transaction from the transaction queue 106 that has a transmittable transaction and has the highest Q_priority 2752. That is, the transaction scheduler 602 transmits the transaction of a transaction queue 106 from the highest priority group containing a transmittable transaction queue 106. If multiple transmittable transaction queues 106 are in the highest priority group containing a transmittable transaction queue 106, the transaction scheduler 602 transmits the transaction from the transaction queue 106 whose turn it is to transmit as indicated by the round-robin bit 748 for the selected group. Flow proceeds to block 2714.

At block 2714, the round-robin logic 712 updates the round-robin indicator for the transaction queue 106 group to which the selected transaction queue 106 belongs. Flow returns to block 804.

Referring now to FIG. 18, a block diagram illustrating the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 16 including round-robin logic 712 of FIG. 17A according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. FIG. 18 comprises FIGS. 18A and 18B.

FIG. 18A illustrates the round-robin logic 712 of FIG. 17A according to one embodiment of the present invention. The round-robin logic 712 of FIG. 18A is similar to the round-robin logic 712 of FIG. 6A; however, the round-robin logic 712 of FIG. 18A includes four round-robin generators 2806: one for each of the four transaction queue 106 groups. Each of the round-robin group generators 2806 receives the E vector 1646 of FIG. 6. However, each of the round-robin generators 2806 also receives an LG vector 2802 that is unique to the corresponding transaction queue 106 group, rather than to the corresponding PM_Q_priority 652 of the embodiment of FIG. 6. That is, there is an LG vector 2802 for each of the four groups. Otherwise, the LG vectors 2802 are similar to the L vectors 1602 of FIG. 6. That is, the LG vectors 2802 are also n-bit vectors, where n is the number of transaction queues 106 and each of the transaction queues 106 has a corresponding bit in each of the four LG vectors 2802. A set bit in an LG vector 2802 indicates that the corresponding transaction queue 106 was the last transaction queue 106 in the corresponding transaction queue 106 group actually selected for transaction transmitting by the transaction scheduler 602. Thus, for example, if the number of transaction queues 106 is eight, an LG vector 2802 value of 00000100 for transaction queue 106 group 1 indicates transaction queue 2 106 was the last transaction queue 106 transmitted in transaction queue 106 group 1. In one embodiment, the LG vector 2802 is generated by the transaction selection logic 202 and stored for provision to the round-robin logic 712. In one embodiment, each LG vector 2802 is updated only when the transaction scheduler 602 selects for transmission a transaction from a transaction queue 106 in the corresponding transaction queue 106 group. Thus, advantageously, the LG vector 2802 is maintained for each transaction queue 106 group so that round-robin fairness is accomplished within each transaction queue 106 group independent of the other transaction queue 106 groups.

Each of the round-robin generators 2806 generates an NG vector 2804 that is unique to the corresponding transaction queue 106 group. The NG vectors 2804 are also n-bit vectors, where n is the number of transaction queues 106 and each of the transaction queues 106 has a corresponding bit in each of the four NG vectors 2804. A set bit in an NG vector 2804 indicates that the corresponding transaction queue 106 is the next transaction queue 106 in round-robin order to be selected in the corresponding transaction queue 106 group.

The round-robin logic 712 includes n four-input muxes 1608: one for each of the n transaction queues 106, similar to FIG. 6. Each mux 1608 receives its corresponding bit from each of the four NG vectors 2804. That is, the mux 1608 for transaction queue 0 106 receives bit 0 from each of the NG vectors 2804; mux 1608 for transaction queue 1 106 receives bit 1 from each of the NG vectors 2804; and so forth, to the mux 1608 for transaction queue 106 n−1 that receives bit n−1 from each of the NG vectors 2804. Each mux 1608 also receives as a select control input the PM_Q_group 2604 value for its respective transaction queue 106. Each of the muxes 1608 selects the input specified by the PM_Q_group 2604 value. The output of each of the muxes 1608 is the corresponding round-robin bit 748 of FIG. 17A. The round-robin bits 748 are provided to the selection logic 202 of FIG. 18B.

Referring now to FIG. 18B, the round-robin bit 748 of each transaction queue 106 is combined with its corresponding Q_priority 2752 bits of FIG. 17A and transmittable bit 746 to form its corresponding TS_Q_priority 208 of FIG. 17A. FIG. 18B also includes the selection logic 202 of FIG. 17A. In one embodiment, the comparators 714 of FIG. 17A are greater-than-or-equal (GTE) comparators. That is, the GTE comparators 714 compare the two TS_Q_priority 208 input values and if the top value is greater-than-or-equal to the lower value, the GTE comparator 714 outputs a control signal to cause its respective mux 724 to select the top value. The selection logic 202 is configured such that the top value always corresponds to a lower enumerated transaction queue 106, i.e., a transaction queue 106 which has a bit in the LG vectors 2802, NG vectors 2804, and E vector 1646 that is more to the right, i.e., a less significant bit, than the bottom value. Thus, for example, in FIG. 18B, one of the comparators 714 receives the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 0 106 and transaction queue 1 106; if the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 0 106 is greater than or equal to the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 1 106, then the comparator 714 will control its mux 724 to select the transaction 206 and TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 0 106; otherwise (i.e., only if the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 0 106 is less than the TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 1 106), the comparator 714 will control its mux 724 to select the transaction 206 and TS_Q_priority 208 for transaction queue 1 106.

Referring now to FIG. 19, a block diagram illustrating a round-robin generator 2806 of FIG. 18 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. Although only one round-robin generator 2806 is shown in FIG. 19, the transaction scheduler 602 comprises one round-robin generator 2806 for each transaction queue 106 group, as shown in FIG. 18A. The round-robin generator 2806 of FIG. 19 is similar to the round-robin generator 1606 of FIG. 7, except as denoted below.

The round-robin generator 2806 includes a first set of inverters 1718 that receive the LG vector 2802 of FIG. 18 and generate an n-bit LG vector 2992. The round-robin generator 2806 also includes a second set of inverters 1716 that receive an EG vector 2946 and generate an n-bit ˜EG vector 2996.

The round-robin generator 2806 also includes group qualification logic 2988 that receives the E vector 1646 of FIG. 6 and PM_Q_group signals 2604. In response thereto, the group qualification logic 2988 generates the EG vector 2946. The group qualification logic 2988 masks off each transaction queue's 106 bit of the E vector 1646 that is not included in the transaction queue 106 group associated with the respective round-robin generator 2806. Consequently, the round-robin generator 2806, and particularly the barrel-incrementer 1712, will skip any transaction queue 106 that does not belong to the transaction queue 106 group when calculating the next transaction queue 106 in round-robin order for the transaction queue 106 group.

The round-robin generator 2806 also includes a barrel-incrementer 1712 that receives the LG vector 2802, the ˜LG vector 2992, and the ˜EG vector 2996. The barrel-incrementer 1712 generates an SG vector 2904, which is the sum of the LG vector 2802 rotated left 1-bit and the Boolean AND of the ˜EG vector 2996 and the LG vector 2992, according to two embodiments, as described above with respect to FIGS. 8A and 8B. In two other embodiments, the barrel-incrementer 1712 generates an SG vector 2904, which is the sum of the LG vector 2802 rotated left 1-bit and the ˜EG vector 2996, as described above with respect to FIGS. 8C and 8D.

The round-robin generator 2806 also includes a set of AND gates 1714 that perform the Boolean AND of the SG vector 2904 and the EG vector 2946 to generate the NG vector 2804 of FIG. 18.

Referring now to FIG. 20, a block diagram illustrating an example of logic for generating the PM_group_priority 2602 signals within a policy manager 604 of FIG. 16 according to the present invention is shown. The group priority generator 3000 embodiment of FIG. 20 comprises a reference design provided with a switch core that may be used in applications where appropriate or modified as needed for other applications. It should be understood that the embodiment shown in FIG. 20 is provided as an illustration of one method of dynamically generating PM_group_priorities 2602, but that within the general notion of providing an interface that enables a policy manager 604 to specify groups of transaction queues 106 and to specify a priority for each group, many methods of dynamically generating PM_group_priorities 2602 to meet the needs of a particular application may be employed. What should be appreciated is that by maintaining round-robin order within a group of transaction queues 106 (rather than within priority level) whose priority level as a group may change frequently (e.g., each clock cycle), but in which the population of the groups changes relatively infrequently (e.g., every 100 or more clock cycles), the invention provides the ability to maintain round-robin order fairness and to effectively interleave transactions of multiple transaction queues 106 to accomplish desired quality-of-service requirements and to avoid starvation of low priority transaction queues 106.

The group priority generator 3000 includes a 4-bit counter 3002 that receives an input clock signal and generates a 4-bit count 3024 in response to the input clock. In the embodiment of FIG. 20, the input clock signal is the PM_gclk signal 658 of FIG. 3 provided by the switch core 606. The counter 3002 counts up, i.e., increments, each input clock cycle. The counter 3002 counts up on count 3024 from a binary 0001 to a binary value 1111 and wraps back to a binary 0001 value. In one embodiment, the clock input to the counter 3002 is qualified with the Boolean OR of the PM_Q_transaction_transmitted signals 644 of FIG. 16; that is, the policy manager 604 group priority generator 3000 only changes the PM_group_priorities 2602 if the transaction scheduler 602 actually transmits a transaction.

The counter 3002 count 3024 output is provided to a priority encoder 3004. The priority encoder 3004 generates the two-bit PM_group_priority_3 value 2602 of FIG. 16 according to the following equation:

PM_group_priority_3 = count[0] ? 2′d3 :            count[1] ? 2′d2 :            count[2] ? 2′d1 :                2′d0;

The group priority generator 3000 also includes three two-input XOR gates 3012/3014/3016 that generate the PM_group_priority_2 2602, PM_group_priority_1 2602 and PM_group_priority_0 2602 signals, respectively. Each of the XOR gates 3012/3014/3016 receives on one input the PM_group_priority_3 2602 output of the priority encoder 3004. XOR gate 3012 receives on its second input a binary 01 value; XOR gate 3014 receives on its second input a binary 10 value; and XOR gate 3016 receives on its second input a binary 11 value.

The group priority generator 3000 generates the resulting PM_group_priority 2602 values shown in the table of FIG. 20. The table includes 15 rows specifying 15 consecutive cycles of the PM_gclk 658. The table includes 4 adjacent columns specifying which of the four groups of transaction queues 106 occupies each of the four group priority levels. The four groups are denoted G0, G1, G2, and G3. In particular, in cycles 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15, G3 is at group priority level 3 (highest priority), G2 is at priority 2, G1 is at priority 1, and G0 is at priority 0 (lowest priority); in cycles 2, 6, 10, and 14, G2 is at priority 3, G3 is at priority 2, G0 is at priority 1, and G1 is at priority 0; in cycles 4 and 12, G1 is at priority 3, G0 is at priority 2, G3 is at priority 1, and G2 is at priority 0; and in cycle 8, G1 is at priority 3, G1 is at priority 2, G2 is at priority 1, and G3 is at priority 0.

As may be observed from the table of FIG. 20, by varying the instantaneous (i.e., cycle by cycle) group priorities specified on the PM_group priority 2602 signals over a period of clock cycles, the policy manager 604 accomplishes a long-term, or aggregate, group priority for each transaction queue 106 group to provide more transaction transmit bandwidth to transaction queues 106 in some groups than others. In particular, the long-term group priority of G3 is greater than G2, the long-term group priority of G2 is greater than G1, and the long-term group priority of G1 is greater than G0, which is lowest long-term priority. That is, the scheduling policy enforced by the policy manager 604 of FIG. 20 intends to give the transaction queues 106 of G3 more transaction transmit bandwidth than the transaction queues 106 of G2, and G2 more bandwidth than G1, and G1 more bandwidth than G0. In particular, G3 is highest priority 8 of 15 clock cycles, G2 is highest priority 4 of 15 clock cycles, G1 is highest priority 2 of 15 clock cycles, and G0 is highest priority 1 of 15 clock cycles. More generally, each successive higher long-term priority group is given the highest instantaneous priority level twice as many clock cycles as its next adjacent lower group.

As may be further observed from the table of FIG. 20, a policy manager 604 that interleaves group priorities on a cycle by cycle basis—one example of which is shown in FIG. 20—advantageously tends to minimize the number of instances that transactions from the same transaction queue 106 are transmitted back to back. Additionally, the fact that the round-robin generators 2806 of FIG. 18 (and the round-robin generators 3106 of FIG. 21 below) maintain round-robin order within groups of transaction queues 106 further tends to minimize the number of instances that transactions from the same transaction queue 106 are transmitted back to back. In summary, the transaction selector 108 of FIG. 16 advantageously provides a mechanism for distributing the transaction transmit bandwidth in a port 102 between transaction queues 106 of different relative long-term priorities such that relatively low long-term priority transaction queues 106 are given some transaction transmit bandwidth to avoid starvation, while relatively high priority transaction queues 106 are given more bandwidth but are still interleaved with other transaction queues 106 so that the quality-of-service requirements may be achieved.

Referring now to FIG. 21, a block diagram illustrating the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 16 including round-robin logic 712 of FIG. 17A according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown. The transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 21 is similar to the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 18, except the round-robin generators 3106 of FIG. 21 are different from the round-robin generators 2806 of FIG. 18, as described herein. The portion of the transaction scheduler 602 shown in FIG. 18B is similar to a like portion of the alternate embodiment of FIG. 21, and is therefore not duplicated in the Figures.

In one aspect, the round-robin generators 3106 of FIG. 21 are different from the round-robin generators 2806 of FIG. 18 because they do not receive the E vector 1646. In another aspect, the round-robin generators 3106 each generate a corresponding NSEG vector 3104, rather than the NG vector 2804 generated by the round-robin generators 2806 of FIG. 18. The NSEG vectors 3104 are similar to the NG vectors 2804, however, the NSEG vectors 3104 are sign-extended; thus, the NSEG vectors 3104 are not 1-hot. Consequently, by design, two or more transaction queues 106 may have an equal highest TS_Q_priority 208. The greater-than-or-equal comparators 714 of FIG. 18B work in conjunction with the round-robin bits 748 selected from the NSEG vectors 3104 to select the desired round-robin transaction queue 106 from the transaction queue 106 group having the highest PM_group priority 2602 and at least one transaction queue 106 with a transmittable transaction, as described above with respect to FIG. 17B. For example, assume the NSEG vector 3104 in one of the transaction queue 106 groups is 11100. This value indicates that transaction queues 4, 3, and 2 have priority over transaction queues 1 and 0 with respect to round-robin order selection. If, for example, all of the transaction queues 106 are in this transaction queue 106 group, the GTE comparators 714 of the transaction scheduler 602 will search for a transmittable transaction queue 106 in the order 2, 3, 4, 0, 1. In this respect, the NSEG vectors 3104 operate similarly to the NSE vectors 2004 of FIG. 10, except within transaction queue 106 groups rather than within transaction queue 106 priority level.

Referring now to FIG. 22, a block diagram illustrating the round-robin generator 3106 of FIG. 21 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown. Although only one round-robin generator 3106 is shown in FIG. 22, the transaction scheduler 602 comprises one round-robin generator 3106 for each transaction queue 106 group, as shown in FIG. 21. An advantage of the alternate embodiment of the round-robin generator 3106 of FIG. 22 that employs the sign-extended character of the NSEG vector 3104 is that the NSEG vectors 3104 may be calculated independent of the E vector 1646, i.e., independent of the transaction transmitability of the transaction queues 106, unlike the round-robin generator 2806 embodiment of FIG. 18.

The round-robin generator 3106 includes a mux 2102 that receives as its two inputs the LG vector 2802 and the output of a register 2124. The register 2124 receives and stores the output of the mux 2102. The mux 2102 also receives a transaction_transmitted control signal 3258 that is true if a transaction is transmitted from the corresponding transaction queue 106 group during the current transmission cycle; otherwise, the transaction_transmitted control signal 3258 is false. In one embodiment, the transaction_transmitted signal 3258 may be false for all transaction queue 106 groups, such as if no transaction queues 106 have a transmittable transaction. The mux 2102 selects the LG vector 2802 input if the transaction_transmitted control signal 3258 is true; otherwise, the mux 2102 selects the register 2124 output. Thus, mux 2102 and register 2124 work in combination to retain the old LG vector 2802 value until a transaction is transmitted by the transaction scheduler 602 from a transaction queue 106 in the corresponding transaction queue 106 group. Thus, advantageously, round-robin order is retained within the transaction queue 106 group independent of the other transaction queue 106 groups.

The round-robin generator 3106 also includes a rotate left 1-bit function 2106 configured to receive and rotate the output of the register 2124 left 1-bit. Hence, the output of the rotate left 1-bit function 2106 is a 1-hot vector pointing to the transaction queue 106 rotatively-left of the last transmitted transaction queue 106 bit. For example, if n is 8, and if the LG vector 2802 value is 10000000, then the output of the rotate left 1-bit function 2106 is 00000001.

The round-robin generator 3106 also includes a sign-extender 2108 configured to receive the output of the rotate left 1-bit function 2106 and to sign-extend it to generate the NSEG vector 3104 of FIG. 21. For example, if the LG vector 2802 value is 00000100, then the output of the sign-extender 2108 is 11111000. In one embodiment, the rotate left 1-bit function 2106 does not include any active logic, but simply comprises signal wires routed appropriately from the register 2124 output to the sign-extender 2108 input to accomplish the 1-bit left rotation.

Referring now to FIG. 23, a block diagram illustrating a second example of logic for generating the PM_group_priority 2602 signals within a policy manager 604 of FIG. 16 according to the present invention is shown. The group priority generator 3300 embodiment of FIG. 23 comprises a reference design provided with a switch core which may be used in applications where appropriate or modified as needed for other applications. It should be understood that the embodiment shown in FIG. 23 is provided as an illustration of one method of dynamically generating PM_group_priorities 2602, but that within the general notion of providing an interface that enables a policy manager 604 to specify groups of transaction queues 106 and to specify a priority for each group, many methods of dynamically generating PM_group_priorities 2602 to meet the needs of a particular application may be employed. What should be appreciated is that by maintaining round-robin order within a group of transaction queues 106 (rather than within priority level) whose priority level as a group may change frequently (e.g., each clock cycle), but in which the population of the groups changes relatively infrequently (e.g., every 100 or more clock cycles), the invention provides the ability to maintain round-robin order fairness and to effectively interleave transactions of multiple transaction queues 106 to accomplish desired quality-of-service requirements and to avoid starvation of low priority transaction queues 106.

A distinction between the group priority generator 3300 of FIG. 23 and the group priority generator 3000 of FIG. 20 is that the group priority generator 3300 of FIG. 23 takes into account the number of transmittable transaction queues 106 in the highest priority group and holds off rotating the priorities among the transaction queue 106 groups until each transmittable transaction queue 106 in the highest priority group has had its opportunity in the round-robin order to transmit a transaction. In other words, the group priority generator 3300 of FIG. 23 holds off updating the PM_group_priority 2602 values until each transmittable transaction queue 106 in the group with the highest PM_group_priority 2602 has had its opportunity to have the highest TS_Q_priority 208, which comprises the transaction queue 106 group priority (via the Q_priority 2752) and the round-robin bit 748. By holding off updating the group priorities until each transmittable transaction queue 106 in the highest priority group has its opportunity to transmit a transaction, the group priority generator 3300 of FIG. 23 advantageously maintains the desired relative transaction transmit bandwidth between the various transaction queue 106 groups even in situations where the number of transmittable transaction queues 106 in each group is not equal, as illustrated below.

The group priority generator 3300 includes a 4-bit counter 3002 that receives a rotate signal 3322 and generates a 4-bit count 3024 in response to the rotate signal 3322. The group priority generator 3300 also includes group priority rotation hold logic 3318, which generates the rotate signal 3322 in response to an input clock qualified by other signals, as described below. In the embodiment of FIG. 23, the input clock signal to the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 is the PM_gclk signal 658 of FIG. 3 provided by the switch core 606. The counter 3002 counts up, i.e., increments, each time the rotate signal 3322 cycles. The counter 3002 counts up on count 3024 from a binary 0001 to a binary value 1111 and wraps back to a binary 0001 value. In one embodiment, the clock input to the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 is qualified with the Boolean OR of the PM_Q_transaction_transmitted signals 644 of FIG. 16; that is, the policy manager 604 group priority generator 3300 only changes the PM_group_priorities 2602 if the transaction scheduler 602 actually transmits a transaction.

The group priority rotation hold logic 3318 also receives the PM_group_priority signals 2602, the PM_Q_group signals 2604 for each transaction queue 106, and the transmittable signals 746 for each transaction queue 106. Potentially, each tick of PM_gclk 658, the rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on the rotate signal 3322; however, if the PM_group priority signals 2602, the PM_Q_group signals 2604, and the transmittable signals 746 indicate the number of transmittable transaction queues 106 for the currently highest priority group is greater than one, then the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 holds—i.e., does not generate a tick on—the rotate signal 3322 for a number of ticks of the PM_gclk 658 signal equal to the number of transmittable transaction queues 106 for the currently highest priority group. Consequently, as shown in the example of FIG. 24 below, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 advantageously causes the desired relative transaction transmit bandwidth between the various transaction queue 106 groups to be maintained in situations where the number of transmittable transaction queues 106 in each group is not equal.

The counter 3002 count 3024 output is provided to a priority encoder 3304. The priority encoder 3304 generates the two-bit PM_group_priority value 2602 of FIG. 16 for each of the four transaction queue 106 groups according to the following equations:

PM_group_priority_3 = count[0] | count[1] | count[2], count[0]; PM_group_priority_2 = count == 4′b1001 ? 2′b01 :  (~count[3] & ~count[2] | ~count[2] & ~count[1] | count[1] {circumflex over ( )} count[0]),  (count[2] & count[1] | count[1] & ~count[0]); PM_group_priority_1 = ~G2_priority; PM_group_priority_0 = ~G3_priority;

The group priority generator 3300 generates the resulting PM_group_priority 2602 values shown in the table of FIG. 23. The table includes 15 rows specifying the 15 consecutive values of the count 3024. The table includes 4 adjacent columns specifying the priority of each of the four transaction queue 106 groups. The four priorities are denoted P0, P1, P2, and P3. In particular, when the count 3024 is 4′b0001, 4′b0011, 4′b0101, 4′b1011, or 4′b1101, group 3 is at P3 (highest priority), group 2 is at P2, group 1 is at P1, and group 0 is at P0 (lowest priority); when the count 3024 is 4′b0010, 4′b0110, 4′b1010, or 4′b1101, group 3 is at P2, group 2 is at P3, group 1 is at P0, and group 0 is at P1; when the count 3024 is 4′b0100 or 4′b1100, group 3 is at P2, group 2 is at P0, group 1 is at P3, and group 0 is at P1; when the count 3024 is 4′b0111, 4′b1001, or 4′b1111, group 3 is at P3, group 2 is at P1, group 1 is at P2, and group 0 is at P0; and when the count 3024 is 4′b1000, group 3 is at P0, group 2 is at P2, group 1 is at P1, and group 0 is at P3.

As may be observed from the table of FIG. 23, by varying the instantaneous (i.e., cycle by cycle) group priorities specified on the PM_group_priority 2602 signals over a period of clock cycles, the policy manager 604 accomplishes a long-term, or aggregate, group priority for each transaction queue 106 group to provide more transaction transmit bandwidth to transaction queues 106 in some groups than others over the cycle of the count 3024. In particular, the long-term group priority of group 3 is greater than group 2, the long-term group priority of group 2 is greater than group 1, and the long-term group priority of group 1 is greater than group 0, which is lowest long-term priority. That is, the scheduling policy enforced by the policy manager 604 of FIG. 23 intends to give the transaction queues 106 of group 3 more transaction transmit bandwidth than the transaction queues 106 of group 2, and group 2 more bandwidth than group 1, and group 1 more bandwidth than group 0. In particular, group 3 is highest priority 8 of 15 count 3024 values, group 2 is highest priority 4 of 15 count 3024 values, group 1 is highest priority 2 of 15 count 3024 values, and group 0 is highest priority 1 of 15 count 3024 values. More generally, each successive higher long-term priority group is given the highest instantaneous priority level twice as many count 3024 values as its next adjacent lower group. Furthermore, the 2:1 ratio between adjacent groups is maintained across all count 3024 values. That is, group n+1 is given a higher instantaneous priority level twice as many count 3024 values as group n. In particular, group 3 is given a higher instantaneous priority level than group 2 in 10 of 15 count 3024 values, whereas group 2 is given a higher instantaneous priority level than group 3 in 5 of 15 count 3024 values; similarly, group 2 is given a higher instantaneous priority level than group 1 in 10 of 15 count 3024 values, whereas group 1 is given a higher instantaneous priority level than group 2 in 5 of 15 count 3024 values; and group 1 is given a higher instantaneous priority level than group 0 in 10 of 15 count 3024 values, whereas group 0 is given a higher instantaneous priority level than group 1 in 5 of 15 count 3024 values. In other words, each transaction queue 106 in group n+1 is given 100% more transaction transmit bandwidth than each transaction queue 106 in group n. Furthermore, group n+2 is given a higher instantaneous priority level four times as many count 3024 values as group n. In other words, each transaction queue 106 in group n+2 is given 300% more transaction transmit bandwidth than each transaction queue 106 in group n. Finally, group n+3 is given a higher instantaneous priority level fourteen times as many count 3024 values as group n. In other words, each transaction queue 106 in group n+3 is given 1300% more transaction transmit bandwidth than each transaction queue 106 in group n.

Referring now to FIG. 24, a table 3400 illustrating operation of the logic 3300 of FIG. 23 in an example transaction queue 106 configuration of the switch 100 of FIG. 1 according to the present invention is shown. The example of FIG. 24 assumes a switch 100 having four transaction queues 106: group 3 and group 2 have zero transaction queues 106; group 1 has three transaction queues 106; and group 0 has one transaction queue 106. The example of FIG. 24 assumes each transaction queue 106 has a transmittable transaction each clock cycle. The table 3400 illustrates 35 sequential clock cycles of the PM_gclk input 658.

At cycle 1, the count 3024 has been initialized to 4′b0001, causing group 3 to be at P3, group 2 to be at P2, group 1 to be at P1, and group 0 to be at P0, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 of FIG. 23 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 1 through 3, the count 3024 remains at 4′b0001 causing group 3 to remain at P3, group 2 to remain at P2, group 1 to remain at P1, and group 0 to remain at P0. Thus in cycles 1, 2, and 3, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 4, the count 3024 is 4′b0010, causing group 3 to be at P2, group 2 to be at P3, group 1 to be at P0, and group 0 to be at P1, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 0 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 0 has only one transmittable transaction queue 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 5, the count 3024 is 4′b0011, causing group 3 to be at P3, group 2 to be at P2, group 1 to be at P1, and group 0 to be at P0, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 5 through 7, the count 3024 remains at 4′b0011 causing group 3 to remain at P3, group 2 to remain at P2, group 1 to remain at P1, and group 0 to remain at P0. Thus in cycles 5, 6, and 7, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 8, the count 3024 is 4′b0100, causing group 3 to be at P2, group 2 to be at P0, group 1 to be at P3, and group 0 to be at P1, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 8 through 10, the count 3024 remains at 4′b0100 causing group 3 to remain at P2, group 2 to remain at P0, group 1 to remain at P3, and group 0 to remain at P1. Thus in cycles 8, 9, and 10, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 11, the count 3024 is 4′b0101, causing group 3 to be at P3, group 2 to be at P2, group 1 to be at P1, and group 0 to be at P0, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 11 through 13, the count 3024 remains at 4′b0101 causing group 3 to remain at P3, group 2 to remain at P2, group 1 to remain at P1, and group 0 to remain at P0. Thus in cycles 11, 12, and 13, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 14, the count 3024 is 4′b0110, causing group 3 to be at P2, group 2 to be at P3, group 1 to be at P0, and group 0 to be at P1, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 0 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 0 has only one transmittable transaction queue 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 15, the count 3024 is 4′b0111, causing group 3 to be at P3, group 2 to be at P1, group 1 to be at P2, and group 0 to be at P0, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 15 through 17, the count 3024 remains at 4′b0111 causing group 3 to remain at P3, group 2 to remain at P1, group 1 to remain at P2, and group 0 to remain at P0. Thus in cycles 15, 16, and 17, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 18, the count 3024 is 4′b1000, causing group 3 to be at P0, group 2 to be at P2, group 1 to be at P1, and group 0 to be at P3, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 0 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 0 has only one transmittable transaction queue 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 19, the count 3024 is 4′b1001, causing group 3 to be at P3, group 2 to be at P1, group 1 to be at P2, and group 0 to be at P0, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 19 through 21, the count 3024 remains at 4′b1001 causing group 3 to remain at P3, group 2 to remain at P1, group 1 to remain at P2, and group 0 to remain at P0. Thus in cycles 19, 20, and 21, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 22, the count 3024 is 4′b1010, causing group 3 to be at P2, group 2 to be at P3, group 1 to be at P0, and group 0 to be at P1, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 0 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 0 has only one transmittable transaction queue 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 23, the count 3024 is 4′b1011, causing group 3 to be at P3, group 2 to be at P2, group 1 to be at P1, and group 0 to be at P0, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 23 through 25, the count 3024 remains at 4′b1011 causing group 3 to remain at P3, group 2 to remain at P2, group 1 to remain at P1, and group 0 to remain at P0. Thus in cycles 23, 24, and 25, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 26, the count 3024 is 4′b1100, causing group 3 to be at P2, group 2 to be at P0, group 1 to be at P3, and group 0 to be at P1, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 26 through 28, the count 3024 remains at 4′b1100 causing group 3 to remain at P2, group 2 to remain at P0, group 1 to remain at P3, and group 0 to remain at P1. Thus in cycles 26, 27, and 28, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 29, the count 3024 is 4′b1101, causing group 3 to be at P3, group 2 to be at P2, group 1 to be at P1, and group 0 to be at P0, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 29 through 31, the count 3024 remains at 4′b1101 causing group 3 to remain at P3, group 2 to remain at P2, group 1 to remain at P1, and group 0 to remain at P0. Thus in cycles 29, 30, and 31, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 32, the count 3024 is 4′b1110, causing group 3 to be at P2, group 2 to be at P3, group 1 to be at P0, and group 0 to be at P1, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 0 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 0 has only one transmittable transaction queue 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

At cycle 33, the count 3024 is 4′b1111, causing group 3 to be at P3, group 2 to be at P1, group 1 to be at P2, and group 0 to be at P0, according to the table of FIG. 23. Since group 1 is the highest priority group with a transmittable transaction queue 106, and group 1 has three transmittable transaction queues 106, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 waits three ticks of the PM_gclk 658 to update the count 3024. Hence, during cycles 33 through 35, the count 3024 remains at 4′b1111 causing group 3 to remain at P3, group 2 to remain at P1, group 1 to remain at P2, and group 0 to remain at P0. Thus in cycles 33, 34, and 35, each of the three transmittable transaction queues 106 in group 1, respectively, has an opportunity to be at highest group priority (and consequently at highest TS_Q_priority 208); thereafter, the group priority rotation hold logic 3318 generates a tick on rotate signal 3322 to cause the counter 3002 to update the count 3024.

As may be observed from FIG. 24, although there are only 15 possible count 3024 values, 35 cycles of the PM_gclk 658 are required to complete the full rotation of group priorities generated through the 15 possible count 3024 values. Of the 35 clock cycles, group 1 is higher priority than group 0 for 30 cycles and group 0 is higher priority than group 1 for 5 cycles. However, the transaction scheduler 602 of FIG. 17 will round-robin the three transaction queues 106 of group 1 such that each of the three transaction queues 106 will be highest TS_Q_priority 208 for 10 of the 30 cycles in which group 1 is highest group priority. That is, each of the three transaction queues 106 in group 1 will receive one-third of the transaction transmit bandwidth allocated to group 1. In particular, each transaction queue 106 in group 1 is given highest TS_Q_priority 208 28.6% of the clock cycles, and the transaction queue 106 in group 0 is given highest TS_Q_priority 208 14.3% of the clock cycles. That is, each of the three transaction queues 106 in group 1 will receive twice the transaction transmit bandwidth as the transaction queue 106 in group 0, according to the desired relative long-term priorities of all the transaction queues 106.

As may be further observed from FIGS. 23 and 24, a policy manager 604 that interleaves group priorities on a cycle by cycle basis—one example of which is shown in FIG. 23—advantageously tends to minimize the number of instances that transactions from the same transaction queue 106 are transmitted back to back. Additionally, the fact that the round-robin generators 2806 of FIG. 18 (and the round-robin generators 3106 of FIG. 21) maintain round-robin order within groups of transaction queues 106 further tends to minimize the number of instances that transactions from the same transaction queue 106 are transmitted back to back. In summary, the transaction selector 108 of FIG. 16 advantageously provides a mechanism for distributing the transaction transmit bandwidth in switch 100 between transaction queues 106 of different relative long-term priorities such that relatively low long-term priority transaction queues 106 are given some transaction transmit bandwidth to avoid starvation, while relatively high priority transaction queues 106 are given more bandwidth but are still interleaved with other transaction queues 106 so that the quality-of-service requirements may be accomplished. And the group priority generator 3300 of FIG. 23 has the further advantage of maintaining the desired relative long term priorities between the various transaction queue 106 groups even in situations where the number of transmittable transaction queues 106 in each group is not equal.

Although the present invention and its objects, features, and advantages have been described in detail, other embodiments are encompassed by the invention. For example, although embodiments have been described with four PM_TC_priority 652 levels, any number of priority levels may be employed. Furthermore, although a bifurcated transaction selector 108 embodiment has been described in which the policy manager 604 enforces a leaky-bucket scheduling policy, the bifurcated transaction selector 108 is not limited to a leaky-bucket transaction scheduling policy; rather, the transaction scheduling policy enforced by the policy manager of the bifurcated transaction selector 108 may be according to any transaction scheduling algorithm. Still further, although embodiments have been described in which four groups of transaction queues 106 and four group priorities exist, the transaction scheduler may be adapted to support any number of groups and group priorities as necessary to the particular application. In addition, although embodiments have been described with a bifurcated scheduler, the grouping and group priority method may be employed in a non-bifurcated scheduler.

An advantage of the present invention is that provides a single point of arbitration within a given port 102, namely the transaction selector 108, for allocating the output transmission bandwidth of the port 102 among the various requesting transaction queues 106 based on feedback of the number of transactions transmitted for each transaction queue 106 to guarantee that desired quality-of-service requirements are met, such as that no transaction queue 106 is starved for output transmission bandwidth. This is a particular advantage over a scheme in which a port relies on the requestors to specify a priority in the transactions themselves. Such a scheme would suffer from the inability to guarantee that desired quality-of-service requirements are met for each requester and possible starvation if one or more requestors were to send an abundance of highest priority transactions, particularly where there is no feedback to each of the requesters about the requested priorities or transactions transmitted for each requestor. In contrast, as can be seen from the embodiments described, the present invention avoids starvation and accomplishes quality-of-service guarantee capabilities by providing a single point of control that assigns priorities based on a history of completed transactions, rather than based on priorities specified with the transactions.

Additionally, the transaction selector 108 advantageously performs the selection of which transaction queue 106 to transmit with extremely low latency, and in the particular embodiments described, within a single clock cycle. This is particularly an advantage over a scheme in which the priorities are software-programmed, since the software programming requires a much larger latency and may consume relatively large amounts of software bandwidth to program the priorities.

Still further, each port may advantageously employ a transaction selector 108 with a different transaction bandwidth scheduling policy to meet the needs and characteristics of the particular port 102, typically based on the type of device coupled to the port 102.

Finally, the bifurcated nature of the transaction selector 108 enables the switch 100 core designer to more easily test and validate the switch 100 core, thereby making the switch 100 core reusable, and yet enable the customer to design its own transaction bandwidth scheduling policy in the policy manager 604 to meet the needs of the particular application; additionally, the PM interface 628 enables the customer to easily integrate the custom policy manager 604 with the switch 100 core.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant computer arts that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in addition to using hardware (e.g., within or coupled to a Central Processing Unit (“CPU”), microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, processor core, System on Chip (“SOC”), or any other device), implementations may also be embodied in software (e.g., computer-readable code, program code, and transactions disposed in any form, such as source, object or machine language) disposed, for example, in a computer usable (e.g., readable) medium configured to store the software. Such software can enable, for example, the function, fabrication, modeling, simulation, description and/or testing of the apparatus and methods described herein. For example, this can be accomplished through the use of general programming languages (e.g., C, C++), hardware description languages (HDL) including Verilog HDL, VHDL, and so on, or other available programs. Such software can be disposed in any known computer usable medium such as semiconductor, magnetic disk, or optical disc (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.). The software can also be disposed as a computer data signal embodied in a computer usable (e.g., readable) transmission medium (e.g., carrier wave or any other medium including digital, optical, or analog-based medium). Embodiments of the present invention may include methods of providing software embodying the apparatus described herein and subsequently transmitting the software as a computer data signal over a communication network including the Internet and intranets, such as shown in FIGS. 25 through 27. It is understood that the apparatus and method described herein may be included in a semiconductor intellectual property core, such as a microprocessor core (e.g., embodied in HDL) and transformed to hardware in the production of integrated circuits. Additionally, the apparatus and methods described herein may be embodied as a combination of hardware and software. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents. 

1. An apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch, the apparatus comprising: a group indicator, for each of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transactions queues said transaction queue belongs to; a group priority indicator, for each group of said plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of said group, said priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of said group relative to other groups of said plurality of groups; and selection logic, coupled to said group indicators and said priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out of the port a transaction thereof, based on said group indicators and said group priority indicators.
 2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said selection logic is configured to select said transaction queue from of a group of the plurality of groups whose group priority indicator indicates a highest of said group priorities containing one of the plurality of transaction queues that has a transmittable transaction.
 3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, further comprising: a transmittable indicator, coupled to said selection logic, for each transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating whether said transaction queue has a transmittable transaction.
 4. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, further comprising: a round-robin generator, coupled to said selection logic, for each group of said plurality of groups, for generating a round-robin indicator indicating which transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues of said group is next in order for transmitting a transaction thereof out of the port; wherein said selection logic is further configured to select said transaction queue based on said group indicators, said group priority indicators, and said round-robin indicators.
 5. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein said selection logic is further configured such that if said group of the plurality of groups whose group priority indicator indicates a highest of said group priorities containing one of the plurality of transaction queues that has a transmittable transaction includes more than one transaction queue that has a transmittable transaction, then said selection logic selects a transaction queue of said more than one transaction queue that said round-robin indicator of said group indicates is next in order for transmitting.
 6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said group priority indicator for each group of said plurality of groups is changeable each clock cycle to indicate a different priority of said group for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of said group relative to said other groups of said plurality of groups.
 7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising: group priority generation logic, coupled to generate said group priority indicator for each group of said plurality of groups.
 8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein for each said group of said plurality of groups, said group priority generation logic changes said priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of said group relative to other groups of said plurality of groups approximately each clock cycle.
 9. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said group priority generation logic changes said priority in a manner further qualified by whether the port transmits a transaction during each said clock cycle.
 10. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said group priority generation logic generates said group priorities in a predetermined pattern over a period of clock cycles.
 11. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein said predetermined pattern causes each group of said plurality of groups to have a different aggregate priority over said period of clock cycles from the other groups of said plurality of groups.
 12. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein said predetermined pattern causes each group of said plurality of groups to have a higher said group priority than its next lowest adjacent aggregate priority group of said plurality of groups in a ratio of approximately 2:1.
 13. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein N is a number of said plurality of groups, wherein M is a 0-based group number of each group, wherein said group priority generation logic generates said group priorities such that each group is a highest of said group priorities approximately 2̂M clock cycles out of every approximately 2̂N clock cycles.
 14. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein each time said group priority generation logic changes said priority, if a number of transmittable ones of the plurality of transaction queues in said group is greater than one, and if said priority of said group is a highest of said group priorities having a group with a transmittable transaction queue, then said group priority generation logic refrains from changing said priority for at least a number of clock cycles equal to said number of transmittable ones of the plurality of transaction queues in said group.
 15. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein said group priority generation logic generates said group priorities in a predetermined pattern over a period of clock cycles, wherein said predetermined pattern causes each of said transmittable ones of the plurality of transaction queues in said group to have a different aggregate priority over said period of clock cycles from the plurality of transaction queues of the other groups of said plurality of groups.
 16. The apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein said predetermined pattern causes each group of said plurality of groups to have a higher said group priority than its next lowest adjacent aggregate priority group of said plurality of groups in a ratio of approximately (2*D):E, wherein D is said number of transmittable ones of the plurality of transaction queues in said group, wherein E is a number of transmittable ones of the plurality of transaction queues in said next lowest adjacent aggregate priority group.
 17. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said group priority generation logic generates N said group priority indicators for N said plurality of groups, wherein each of said N group priority indicators specifies a different priority of N priorities.
 18. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the transactions comprise a command to write data to a device coupled to the port.
 19. The apparatus as recited in claim 18, wherein the transactions further comprise said data to be written to said device coupled to the port.
 20. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the transactions comprise a command to read data from a device coupled to the port.
 21. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the transactions comprise data to be written to a device coupled to the port in response to a previous transaction received by the port from said device to read said data from another device coupled to another port of the switch.
 22. A method for selecting one of a plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch, the method comprising: grouping the plurality of transaction queues into a plurality of groups; specifying a transmit priority for each of the plurality of groups; and selecting for transmitting one of the plurality of transaction queues from one of the plurality of groups having a highest of the transmit priorities that includes at least one of the plurality of transaction queues having a transmittable transaction, in response to said grouping and said specifying the transmit priorities.
 23. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising: maintaining a round-robin order among the plurality of transaction queues within each of the plurality of groups; and selecting for transmitting one of the plurality of transaction queues from one of the plurality of groups having a highest of the transmit priorities that includes at least one of the plurality of transaction queues having a transmittable transaction and that is next in the round-robin order among the at least one of the plurality of transaction queues having a transmittable transaction in the group, in response to said grouping and said specifying the transmit priorities and said maintaining the round-robin order.
 24. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein said specifying the transmit priorities comprises specifying different transmit priorities for the plurality of groups approximately each clock cycle.
 25. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein said grouping the plurality of transaction queues into the plurality of groups comprises grouping the plurality of transaction queues into different groups approximately less frequently than every 50 clock cycles.
 26. A port in a switch for transmitting transactions from a plurality of transaction queues in a prioritized but fair manner, comprising: a port interface, configured to transmit transactions; and a transaction selector, coupled for selecting the plurality of transaction queues for transaction transmission, said transaction selector comprising: a group indicator, for each transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transaction queues said transaction queue belongs to; a group priority indicator, for each group of said plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of said group, said priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of said group relative to other groups of said plurality of groups; and selection logic, coupled to said group indicators and said priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out the port a transaction thereof, based on said group indicators and said group priority indicators.
 27. The port as recited in claim 26, wherein said transaction selector comprises: a policy manager, for generating said group indicators and said group priority indicators; and a transaction scheduler, coupled to receive said group indicators and said group priority indicators.
 28. The port as recited in claim 27, wherein said policy manager is configured to generate said group priority indicators having different values approximately each clock cycle.
 29. The port as recited in claim 27, wherein said transaction selector comprises: a round-robin generator, for each group of said plurality of groups, configured to generate a round-robin vector for said group for use by said selection logic in transmitting said transactions.
 30. The port as recited in claim 29, wherein said policy manager is configured to generate said group indicators having different values approximately less frequently than every 50 clock cycles, thereby enabling said round-robin generators and said selection logic to effectively maintain fair selection of said transactions within each of said plurality of groups.
 31. A computer program product for use with a computing device, the computer program product comprising: a computer usable storage medium, having computer-readable program code embodied in said medium, for providing an apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch, said computer-readable program code comprising: first program code for providing a group indicator, for each of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transactions queues said transaction queue belongs to; second program code for providing a group priority indicator, for each group of said plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of said group, said priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of said group relative to other groups of said plurality of groups; and third program code for providing selection logic, coupled to said group indicators and said priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out of the port a transaction thereof, based on said group indicators and said group priority indicators.
 32. A method for providing an apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch, the method comprising: providing computer-readable program code describing the switch core, the program code comprising: first program code for providing a group indicator, for each of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transactions queues said transaction queue belongs to; second program code for providing a group priority indicator, for each group of said plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of said group, said priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of said group relative to other groups of said plurality of groups; and third program code for providing selection logic, coupled to said group indicators and said priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out of the port a transaction thereof, based on said group indicators and said group priority indicators; and transmitting the computer-readable program code as a computer data signal on a network.
 33. A switch, comprising: a network; and a plurality of ports, each coupled to receive transactions from other of said plurality of ports via said network, each of said ports comprising: a port interface, configured to transmit said transactions to a device coupled to said port; a plurality of transaction queues, configured to receive said transactions from said network wherein each of said plurality of transaction queues belongs to a group of one of a plurality of groups wherein each of said plurality of groups has a priority for transmitting transactions relative to other groups of said plurality of groups; and a transaction selector, coupled to said port interface and to said plurality of transaction queues, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues for transmitting out the port a transaction thereof based on said groups and said priorities.
 34. The switch as recited in claim 33, wherein said network comprises a cross-bar network.
 35. The switch as recited in claim 33, wherein said transaction selector for at least two of said plurality of ports of the switch is configured to prescribe a different policy for selecting the plurality of transaction queues for transaction transmission than other of said plurality of ports.
 36. An apparatus for selecting one of N transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch, the N transaction queues each being in one of G groups, each of the G groups having a priority, the priority being one of P priorities, the apparatus comprising: G round-robin vectors, corresponding to the G groups, each having N bits corresponding to the N transaction queues, each being a 1-bit left-rotated and subsequently sign-extended version of an N-bit input vector, said input vector having a single bit true corresponding to a last one of the N transaction queues selected for transmitting in a corresponding one of the G groups; N G-input muxes, each coupled to receive a corresponding one of said N bits of each of said G round-robin vectors, each configured to select for output one of said G inputs specified by the corresponding transaction queue's group; and selection logic, coupled to receive a transaction from each of the N transaction queues and to select for transmitting out the port one of said N transactions corresponding to one of the N transaction queues having a transmit value greater than or equal to any of the N transaction queues left thereof in said N-bit input vectors; wherein said transmit value of each of the N transaction queues comprises a least-significant bit equal to said corresponding G-input mux output, a most-significant bit that is true if said corresponding transaction is transmittable, and middle bits comprising the priority of the transaction queue's group.
 37. The apparatus as recited in claim 36, wherein the priority of each of the G groups is dynamically updatable among the P priorities.
 38. The apparatus as recited in claim 36, further comprising: G round-robin circuits, coupled to receive said G input vectors, and configured to generate said G round-robin vectors, and coupled to provide said G N-bit input vectors to said N G-input muxes.
 39. The apparatus as recited in claim 38, wherein each of said G round-robin circuits corresponding to the G groups comprises: a storage element configured to store said input vector; wherein if said one of said N transactions selected by said selection logic is in a group other than said corresponding group, then said storage element retains a current value of said input vector; wherein if said one of said N transactions selected by said selection logic is in said corresponding group, then said storage element receives a new value of said input vector.
 40. The apparatus as recited in claim 38, wherein each of said G round-robin circuits corresponding to the G groups comprises: a sign-extender, coupled to sign-extend said 1-bit left-rotated N-bit input vector to generate said corresponding round-robin vector.
 41. The apparatus as recited in claim 35, wherein said selection logic comprises: a plurality of greater-than-or-equal comparators, coupled to receive said transmit values for the N transaction queues, and to generate an indication of said one of the N transaction queues having a transmit value greater than or equal to any of the N transaction queues left thereof in said N-bit input vectors.
 42. The apparatus as recited in claim 41, wherein said selection logic comprises: a tree of muxes, coupled to said comparators and coupled to receive said N transactions, configured to select said one of said N transactions corresponding to said one of the N transaction queues indicated by said indication generated by said plurality of greater-than-or-equal comparators.
 43. The apparatus as recited in claim 35, wherein said corresponding transaction is transmittable if said corresponding one of the N transaction queues is non-empty.
 44. The apparatus as recited in claim 35, wherein said corresponding transaction is transmittable if said corresponding one of the N transaction queues is unblocked from transmitting transactions.
 45. The apparatus as recited in claim 35, wherein the transactions are received from other ports of the switch associated with corresponding ones of the N transaction queues.
 46. A method for selecting one of N transaction queues from which to transmit a transaction out of a port of a switch, the N transaction queues each being in one of G groups, each of the G groups having a priority, the priority being one of P priorities, the method comprising: generating G round-robin vectors, corresponding to the G groups, each having N bits corresponding to the N transaction queues, each being a 1-bit left-rotated and subsequently sign-extended version of an N-bit input vector, the input vector having a single bit true corresponding to a last one of the N transaction queues selected for transmitting in a corresponding one of the G groups; for each of the N transaction queues, receiving a corresponding one of the N bits of each of the G round-robin vectors, and selecting as a round-robin bit one of the G received corresponding one of the N bits of each of the G round-robin vectors specified by the corresponding transaction queue's group; and receiving a transaction from each of the N transaction queues, and selecting for transmitting out the port one of the N transactions corresponding to one of the N transaction queues having a transmit value greater than or equal to any of the N transaction queues left thereof in the N-bit input vectors; wherein the transmit value of each of the N transaction queues comprises a least-significant bit equal to the round-robin bit of the transaction queue, a most-significant bit that is true if the corresponding transaction of the transaction queue is transmittable, and middle bits comprising the priority of the transaction queue's group.
 47. The method as recited in claim 46, further comprising: dynamically updating the priority of each of the G groups among the P priorities.
 48. A switch port for transmitting transactions from N transaction queues, each of the N transaction queues being in one of G groups, each group having a priority, the priority being one of P priorities, wherein a subset of the N transaction queues may have a transmittable transaction in a selection cycle, the port configured to transmit transactions of the N transaction queues in a round-robin fashion within each of the G groups independent of the other G groups, comprising: G round-robin circuits, each for generating an N-bit round-robin vector for a corresponding one of the G groups, wherein said N-bits correspond to the N transaction queues, each of said G round-robin circuits comprising: a first input, for receiving a first corresponding N-bit value specifying which of the N transaction queues was last selected in said group to transmit a transaction; a second input, for receiving a second corresponding N-bit value, each of said N bits being false if said corresponding transaction queue has a transmittable transaction and is in said group; a barrel incrementer, coupled to receive said first and second inputs, configured to 1-bit left-rotatively increment said second value by said first value to generate a sum; and combinational logic, coupled to said barrel incrementer, configured to generate from said sum and said second value said N-bit round-robin vector specifying which of the N transaction queues is selected next from which to transmit a transaction; N G-input muxes, each coupled to receive a corresponding one of said N bits of each of said G round-robin vectors, each configured to select one of said G inputs specified by the group of the corresponding transaction queue as a round-robin bit for said associated transaction queue; and selection logic, coupled to said N G-input muxes, configured to select one of the N transaction queues for transmitting a transaction thereof out of the port, wherein said selection logic selects said one of the N transaction queues having said round robin bit set, having a transmittable transaction, and being in a group having said priority a highest of the P priorities having one of the plurality of transaction queues with a transmittable transaction.
 49. A method for generating a round-robin bit for use in selecting one of N transaction queues for transmitting a transaction out a port of a switch, the N transaction queues each being in one of G groups, each group having a priority, the priority being one of P priorities, wherein a subset of the N transaction queues may have a transmittable transaction in a selection cycle, the method comprising: generating G N-bit round-robin vectors each for a corresponding one of the G groups, wherein the N-bits correspond to the N transaction queues, said generating each of the G N-bit round-robin vectors comprising: receiving a first corresponding N-bit value specifying which of the N transaction queues was last selected in the group to transmit a transaction; receiving a second corresponding N-bit value, each of the N bits being false if the corresponding transaction queue has a transmittable transaction and is in the group; 1-bit left-rotatively incrementing the second value by the first value to generate a sum; and generating from the sum and the second value the N-bit round-robin vector specifying which of the N transaction queues is selected next to transmit a transaction; and for each of the N transaction queues, receiving a corresponding one of the N bits of each of the G round-robin vectors, and selecting as the round-robin bit for the corresponding transaction queue one of the G received bits specified by the group of said transaction queue.
 50. A bifurcated selector for transmitting transactions out a port of a switch from a plurality of transaction queues, the selector comprising: a transaction scheduler, configured to transmit transactions of the plurality of transaction queues out the port; a policy manager, for prescribing a scheduling policy of the plurality of transaction queues; and an interface, coupling said policy manager to the transaction scheduler, said interface comprising: first signals, for said transaction scheduler to receive from said policy manager a group indicator for each of the plurality of transaction queues for indicating one of a plurality of groups to which the transaction queue belongs; and second signals, for said transaction scheduler to receive from said policy manager a priority for each of said plurality of groups, wherein said transaction scheduler transmits said transactions out of the port based on said group priorities and said group indicators; and third signals, for said policy manager to receive transaction transmission information for each of the plurality of transaction queues, wherein said policy manager updates said group indicators based on said transaction transmission information, wherein said transaction transmission information comprises an indication of which of the plurality of transaction queues a transaction was transmitted from.
 51. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein each clock cycle said transaction scheduler selects which of the plurality of transaction queues from which to transmit said transactions out of the port, based on said group priorities and said group indicators.
 52. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said policy manager updates said group priorities based on said transaction transmission information.
 53. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said policy manager updates said group priorities in a periodic and interleaved manner.
 54. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said priority of each of said plurality of groups comprises one of a plurality of predetermined priority levels.
 55. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said transaction scheduler is non-customer-modifiable.
 56. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said policy manager is customer-modifiable.
 57. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said policy manager updates said group priorities approximately each clock cycle.
 58. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said policy manager updates said group indicators approximately less frequently than every 50 clock cycles.
 59. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein the switch includes a switch core, wherein said switch core includes said transaction scheduler and excludes said policy manager.
 60. The selector as recited in claim 59, wherein said switch core is synthesizable.
 61. The selector as recited in claim 59, wherein said switch core is reusable for a plurality of customers.
 62. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said transaction scheduler is configured to select at least one of the plurality of transaction queues for which a transmittable transaction has been fetched by the processor, and which has a highest priority specified by said group priorities and said group indicators, from which to issue a transaction.
 63. The selector as recited in claim 62 wherein if more than one transaction queue in said group which has said highest priority specified by said group priorities and said group indicators has a transmittable transaction, said transaction scheduler is configured to select one of said more than one transaction queue in a round-robin manner.
 64. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said interface further comprises: fourth signals, for said policy manager to communicate to said transaction scheduler for each of the plurality of transaction queues whether to block issuing of transactions for the transaction queue.
 65. The selector as recited in claim 50, wherein said interface further comprises: a clock signal, from said transaction scheduler to said policy manager.
 66. A method for transmitting transactions out a port of a switch from a plurality of transaction queues, the method comprising: signaling, during a first clock cycle, by a policy manager to a transaction scheduler a group indicator for each of the plurality of transaction queues for indicating one of a plurality of transaction queue groups to which the transaction queue belongs, and a group scheduling priority for each of the plurality of groups; transmitting a transaction out the port, during a second clock cycle, by the transaction scheduler from one of the plurality of transaction queues, in response to said signaling the group indicators and the group scheduling priorities; and signaling, during a third clock cycle subsequent to the first clock cycle, by the transaction scheduler to the policy manager an indication whether the transaction scheduler transmitted a transaction from each of the plurality of transaction queues.
 67. The method as recited in claim 66, further comprising: signaling by the policy manager to the transaction scheduler an indication for each of the plurality of transaction queues whether to block transmitting transactions for the transaction queue; and stopping said transmitting by the transaction scheduler transactions from each of the plurality of transaction queues signaled by the policy manager to block transmitting transactions.
 68. The switch as recited in claim 33, wherein said transaction selector comprises: a group indicator, for each transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for indicating which one of a plurality of groups of the plurality of transaction queues said transaction queue belongs to.
 69. The switch as recited in claim 68, wherein said transaction selector further comprises: a group priority indicator, for each group of said plurality of groups, for indicating a priority of said group, said priority indicating a priority for transmitting transactions of the plurality of transaction queues of said group relative to other groups of said plurality of groups.
 70. The switch as recited in claim 69, wherein said transaction selector comprises: selection logic, coupled to said group indicators and said priority indicators, configured to select a transaction queue of the plurality of transaction queues, for transmitting out the port a transaction thereof, based on said group indicators and said group priority indicators.
 71. The switch port of claim 48, wherein only one of said N bits corresponding to said last selected transaction queue is true.
 72. The switch port of claim 71, wherein said round-robin vector comprises a Boolean AND of said sum and an inverted version of said second value.
 73. The switch port of claim 72, wherein only one of said N bits corresponding to said next selected one of the N transaction queues is true.
 74. The method of claim 49, wherein only one of the N bits corresponding to the last selected transaction queue is true.
 75. The method of claim 74, wherein the round-robin vector comprises a Boolean AND of the sum and an inverted version of the second value.
 76. The method of claim 75, wherein only one of the N bits corresponding to the next selected one of the N transaction queues is true. 